The two changes Raynal wants, and his view now of Foley Bledisloe call
Seasoned French referee Mathieu Raynal has named the two changes he would make in rugby – one a law alteration and the other to do with the timings of the annual June and November international windows. He also revisited his infamous September 2022 Bledisloe Cup call in Melbourne where he penalised Wallabies out-half Bernard Foley for timewasting with a penalty kick to touch, a decision that gave the All Blacks a free from which they scored the winning try.
Having signed off on the recent Rugby World Cup with an assistant referee appointment for the England versus South Africa semi-final, Raynal is now back on the Top 14 beat and he took time out this week to make a guest appearance on The Rugby Pod, the show hosted by Andy Goode and Jim Hamilton.
Ex-England international Goode would have been playing for Brive when Raynal took charge of his first-ever Top 14 game while former Scotland lock Hamilton was playing for Montpellier in 2013 when the official suffered a double fracture to tibia and fibula, as well as a broken right collarbone and a sprained left ankle.
Aside from recalling those incidents with the show hosts, Raynal finished his lively interview by answering the question about the rugby law that he wants to change. “One thing in the law so important to me, it’s the law with the substitutions – there are too much subs and they arrive in the second half so that is cutting the flow of the game.
“You have 20 substitutions (sic – 16) in the second half, so honestly if we can have less substitutions for rugby that will in my view create more space so that is so important. And the second one is not a law but if we can swap the November window, if we can play it in the south and the June window in the north in the summer, that will be great because I have spent the last 10 years in the winter,” he quipped.
Earlier in the interview, Raynal was asked to revisit his decision 14 months ago where he dramatically penalised the Wallabies when they were set to clear to touch in the dying moments of a match they were leading against the All Blacks. That presented New Zealand with the possession they used to engineer the winning score.
“When I make a call and particularly when I have time to make a call, this call I have one minute to make it,” began Rayal, casting his mind back to what unfolded in Melbourne. “I warned the player [Foley] maybe four, five times, so it’s because I’m convinced that is the right one.
“After I can understand some people disagreeing with me but I trust in what I do, I trust in my process, so after that, what happened in Australia, obviously the press, it was a storm and you are in the middle.
“I delete all the apps off my phone and then I tried to focus on myself and my team to have a good time and to stay away from this noise. I will not go on social media, in press, to try to convince people that I made the right call.
“I just feel good with what I did and after, if people do not agree with me, okay, happy days. But me, I am happy with what I did at this moment. I think it was important not only for not about this game but important for our sport to say okay, to have a line and to say our sport will not cross this line so that was important for myself.”
Raynal also expressed his sadness that Ireland skipper Johnny Sexton is now retired after finishing up playing at the recent World Cup. Asked if was ever daunted by the likes of Sexton, Owen Farrell and other vocal players, the French referee said: “No, because I have a big character too so when I go to ref Johnny or Owen or Dan (Biggar), they know me too, so maybe you can ask the question to them, when you face a big character like Mathieu, how do you prep?
“I don’t feel weak against this guy. I always work with them. They respect me, I respect them. I trust them, they know exactly what I expect from them, so I am not really disturbed by that.
“Honestly, they are good guys and I am sad to not referee again Johnny Sexton. He has finished his career and after the World Cup that was one reason I was really sad because I refereed him for many years with Ireland, with Leinster. I like him a lot, never had a problem with him.”
- Click here to listen to this week’s Rugby Pod featuring Mathieu Raynal
Comments on RugbyPass
Amazing. The losing team’s ratings are higher than the winning team’s. Mallia definitely didn’t deserve a y. What game were you watching? Should have got a w or an x. ADP hardly featured in that second half. At one point I wondered when he’d been subbed. Seems to me as if he gets an automatic 9 just for getting onto the team sheet.
1 Go to commentsI’m sorry. That second half was far from enthralling. It was painful to watch.
1 Go to commentsVery generous! If you’d missed the game, reading this you’d conclude that it was the Quins front row that cost them the game. Marler getting a blanket 6 for his demented contribution to the game. Puzzling.
1 Go to commentsCan’t see Toulouse beating Leinster at this rate.
7 Go to commentsADP was having a very average game until winning that penalty for Toulouse, sticking his big head in the way. “The head of God”?
7 Go to commentsHarlequins doing their best to do as little damage as possible with all the possession. Looks like they skipped catch and pass drills this week.
7 Go to commentsSeeing pictures of Jacques high-fiving it with Irish players breaks my heart. Too soon. I need more time.
1 Go to commentsquins is all over the place. The minute they get the ball they panic. Quins can still win tho just need to win all rucks otherwise just don't bother.
7 Go to commentsGreat wins for the male & female kiwi sides. Ireland not far away..
1 Go to commentsWhy is this dude getting so much coverage? Usually knobs like this get cancelled.
2 Go to commentsWow. What was that? A 3 million word meandering article about what exactly?
2 Go to commentsNice piece of writing. And yes the Sharks pulled a rabbit from the hat and were a little lucky with that penalty try that wasn’t given… however the Sharks (with their resources) should be way more consistent and should be putting teams like Claremont away for breakfast. I expect more from them and hope they kick on now.
8 Go to commentsJust what the Sharks needed to get things going in the right direction Defence on the outside really creates havoc for the whole team and needs to be addressed.
8 Go to commentsWell done guys both teams will be ready to play knockout rugby.
1 Go to commentsSurprised that Ramos isn't starting at 15. But what a squad of galacticos!
2 Go to commentsWhy is it a snub? What journalistic garbage is that? Sure the guy is a great player, but there are plenty of loose forwards and not all of them can be Springboks. Also, I know of no-one who doubts Rassie’s judgment. South Africa has a conveyor belt of loose forwards that just keeps producing, so the competition is intense. I certainly wish him well, but there is no entitlement and there is no snub.
17 Go to commentsSkelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
6 Go to commentsSpot on Ben. Dead right. Havili looked great at 10. Easily the highest rugby IQ of any NZ player these days. Getting a kick charged down is a result of getting used to adjusting your depth to the line at 10, which he will sort out with time. But other than that it was an outstanding first effort in that position this year. I think the NZ media has misunderstood this directive from Razor. Havili might rank behind B Barrett this year, but Beuden is 33 this month and won't last much longer. DMaC is great but flaky and not really a test match animal (his efforts in Dunedin versus Aus last year for example). If Razor can't have Mounga, DMaC is too unstructured for Razor (and is just too small for test rugby). Havili will end up our first choice first five, and in partnership with Jodie will be excellent. Two triple threat operators in tandem, and big bodies and tough tacklers to boot. Jordoe will be the ABs goal kicker. I am an Aucklander and Blues (and Warriors) fan, but Havili at 10 is going to be sensational in time… he can be the best first five in the world by the end of this year. No question.
6 Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
8 Go to commentsGood riddance
1 Go to comments