Ref Watch: Wayne Barnes' seismic Andrew Porter call
Ireland made history by completing a first series win in New Zealand in the most pressurized of environments – to which the cool head and precision accuracy of Wayne Barnes were ideally suited.
The veteran Englishman, who took charge of his 99th test match – and third between the All Blacks and Ireland – certainly stepped up to the big occasion to provide a strongly-managed performance in which his usual clarity of decision-making was again very much to the fore.
While Jaco Peyper, Angus Gardner. Paul Williams and Ben O’Keefe all have a good chance of still being around with a whistle in their hand when next year’s World Cup reaches its latter stages, providing England are not involved, for me Barnes is currently a sure-fire pick to take charge of the final.
The Big Call
This test match, the series and quite possibly New Zealand coach Ian Foster’s job hinged on the 50th minute decision which eventually saw Ireland loose head Andrew Porter shown a yellow card for a head-on-head tackle on Brodie Retallick.
With the hosts throwing everything at Ireland in an effort to get back into contention, TMO Tom Foley drew Barnes’ attention to a tackle that had left the Kiwi lock receiving treatment for a facial injury.
“Green no.1 makes direct head-to-head contact” Foley advised Barnes before showing him the replay.
Should Andrew Porter have received a red card for this incident? Or was a yellow card fair?
A potentially defining moment of the game #NZvIRE pic.twitter.com/M7uBHBKcQB
— Sky Sports Rugby Union (@SkySportsRugby) July 16, 2022
The man in charge proceeded to explain how he saw the incident with a stage-by-stage commentary before checking that Foley – who will already have viewed several replays before bringing the incident to Barnes’ attention – agreed with his interpretation.
“Number one is upright, so we have got foul play,” he began. “It is an absorbing tackle, not a dominant tackle, there is no mitigation, I have a yellow card, do you agree?”
When the TMO concurred, Ireland’s prop was sent to the bin for ten minutes.
As was pointed out by Conor Mcnamara in commentary, the difference between this incident and the one which saw All Black prop Angus Ta’avo red carded seven days earlier was microscopic.
Knowing this, master communicator Barnes made sure that he clearly put the words “absorbing tackle not dominant tackle” into the public domain via the ref mike, to provide defence against the inevitable criticism of lack of consistency which will follow.
Referees are in a really difficult position at the moment, as World Rugby’s head contact protocols require them to make judgements on incidents which are – as Eddie Jones pointed out in the week – essentially accidents.
There was clearly no foul play intent present in either tackle, but both players put themselves at risk of being carded by failing to bend into the tackle. This ‘reckless’ approach is what the current interpretation of the regulations seeks to curtail.
Given that Retallick was unable to continue, we can presumably safely assume that a level of force was involved despite the fact that Porter was going backwards when the contact was made.
Was Barnes correct to downgrade to a yellow? Was Peyper correct to show red? For me, under the existing protocol the incidents were so similar that the outcome had to be identical – a red card.
However, the finest of margins separates them, and I find myself in the unusual position of agreeing with Jones’ assessment that World Rugby need to find a path through the huge head contact muddle caused by their efforts to improve safety so we can get back to referees dealing with foul play that involves intent.
Management
There is so much which aspiring officials can take from Barnes’ approach, but without doubt it is his firm but approachable manner which tops the list.
His default mode is extremely relaxed, but on the rare occasion that a player went beyond what he deems to be acceptable, Barnes instantly ups the ante and stamps his authority.
This was very evident in the second quarter when he could clearly hear Porter shouting at him from a distance of around 15 metres while a lineout was forming.
Barnes made a point of stopping the game then walking slowly between both sets of forwards.
“If you want to stand and shout at me I’ll penalise you,” Ireland’s loose head was reprimanded.
“I’ll deal with the gap please.”
Clarity
Barnes’ approach has several tiny elements to it which are extremely clever since they underline his authority and by doing so build player confidence in him.
He is also fully aware that the ref mike allows him to speak to a wider audience and explain what is going on.
When a touch-finder rolled around adjacent to the replacements without the ball making human contact he proactively called: “Ball live,” then once it had been touched – or later in the game when a lineout formed – he advised: “Ball not live.”
Should either side attempt a quick throw it will then be no surprise and there will be less frustration when he whistles to stop play.
In similar vein, in the second half when a loose ball emerged from a tackle and made contact with Tadgh Furlong’s foot as he retreated Barnes quickly told us: “Play on, it’s open play, no offside.”
Quarter 1 | Quarter 2 | Quarter 3 | Quarter 4 | |
Pens against NZ | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
Pens against Ireland | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
This week’s homework
After the errors made by last week’s officiating team in the wake of the All Blacks simultaneously losing two tight head props to cards, it was very clear that this week’s group had gone through the decision-making tree which assists when the spectre of uncontested scrums arises.
When New Zealand replacement prop Ofa Tu’ungafasi left the field for an HIA early in the second half having recently replaced home no.3 Nepo Laulala, Barnes immediately checked with the fifith official to ascertain that Laulala had been substituted tactically rather than removed due to injury.
Had the latter been the case, he would not have been eligble to return to the field and uncontested scrums would have resulted.
Since Laulala clearly had his leg heavily strapped during the first 40 minutes, he almost certainly departed with a minor leg injury – but providing the All Blacks management on the sidelines officially listed his departure as being tactical that is how it will be treated.
Teamwork
An all-English team worked well together and this smooth communication flow was at times very helpful to the flow of the game.
Ireland’s first try, for example, came from a lineout which followed a penalty called in by TJ Karl Dickson who spotted Sam Cane’s off-the-ball tackle on Josh van der Flier.
What’s in a Name?
Plenty of rugby watchers dislike referees using players’ Christian names, but Barnes does it with effortless ease and to my eyes to the benefit of all involved and without reducing his authority.
When needing to catch attention, especially in general play, Barnes is extremely natural when switching to first-name terms.
“Stay behind Aaron,” he warned New Zealand’s no.9, then later as the hosts sought to restart quickly “Jordie: Whenever you’re ready.”
However, when speaking to the captains, or communicating with the TMO it reverts to “Black no.7 or Green no.3.”
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments