The World Rugby delay that left annoyed Lions calling Joe Schmidt
Warren Gatland has finally revealed the timeline regarding the Lions belatedly finding out about the appointment of South African Marius Jonker as TMO for the fractious Test series versus the Springboks which will conclude this weekend after a bruising few controversial weeks for the sport. The Lions boss also admitted that he contacted Joe Schmidt, World Rugby’s director of rugby and high performance, to try and get clarification as to how the governing body didn’t have a better contingency plan in place in case something went wrong regarding the availability of any of the officials appointed for the series.
While referees Nic Berry, Ben O’Keeffe and Mathieu Raynal, the three-strong group appointed as the series referees and touch judges, arrived in South Africa without a hitch and have remained healthy, New Zealander Brendon Pickerill was unable to travel. However, rather than have another official from overseas on standby to fly in, World Rugby instead opted to appoint local South African official Jonker as TMO.
Gatland insisted he has no problem regarding the integrity of Jonker officiating at a Lions series involving his home nation. What he does have an issue with is how late in the day the Lions were made aware of the change, while he was also exasperated that World Rugby didn’t have a better Plan B ready to use in case of an emergency.
“I don’t want to comment on his [Jonker’s] performance but we found out on the Wednesday night before the first Test,” said Gatland, shedding light on an appointment that has become quite contentious in the two weeks since then. “Our understanding was that it was going to be Brendon Pickerill and we only found out subsequently that World Rugby had known for at least a week or so that there was a possibility he wasn’t going to be travelling to South Africa. That is what raised our concerns.
“We weren’t notified about that and why there wasn’t a contingency in place. Every four years you have the World Cup and how important the World Cup is, and the next biggest thing on the World Rugby calendar is the Lions and you don’t want to be in a position where any of the match officials can be potentially criticised or questioned.
"They have inadvertently dragged us into it"
– Lions vs Springboks series row takes yet another fresh twist #CastleLionsSeries #LionsTour2021 #LionsRugbyhttps://t.co/heZOgAWrKp
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 3, 2021
“We have already had that where these officials have been accused of being disrespected and having not made the right calls and potentially been influenced, so that has been disappointing. Everyone needs to make sure we respect the officials as much as we can. They have a difficult job. Without them, we couldn’t play the game and there is a lot at stake. I understand at times we all get frustrated about certain decisions and certain calls and sometimes you have just got to suck it up and get on with it. We have been trying to go through the process of talking to the referees Wednesday or Thursday afternoon.
“There are a couple of things that I want to go through, ask them on some of the calls that are made and some of the decisions, just take me through the process please and let me understand your thought process so that I understand that and can convey that message to my players. That is what you do. We don’t always agree and that is part of the thing that goes on, part of the process in terms of having that robust debate or discussion afterwards about how just as coaches and players we understand and learn but also hopefully if it’s the other way around the referee has seen our point of view or the sorts of things that we are trying to do as well.”
Lions boss Gatland added that he made representations to Schmidt after belatedly learning about Jonker’s TMO appointment. “I did, yes. I spoke to Joe Schmidt who is involved and I asked him to just please give me some clarity on the decision and just asking why plans hadn’t been put in place with not just the TMO but what happened if the referees couldn’t make it out here. “We [the Lions] had been putting in contingency plans for a number of things that if anything happened with Covid and the way things were that we were covered. Like I said, there has never been any question about the integrity of the people involved, it’s just what we questioned was the process.”
World Rugby, though, maintain that a contingency plan was in place, that teams knew it was always likely that the contingency would be non-neutral, and this had been communicated for all Test games across a challenging July window. It is also believed that the Lions were informed of Pickerill’s non-availability shortly after World Rugby were informed.
CLEARED:
The England tighthead can now provide impact off the 3rd Test Lions bench #CastleLionsSeries #LionsTour2021 #LionsRugby
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 3, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
The Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 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
3 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 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 comments