Donal Lenihan, Rugby Analyst

WHO would want to be a referee? Well quite a few actually. In fact over the last three years the numbers officiating in Ireland have increased by 25%, from 400 to 500.

That reflects well on the game in this country, as does the presence of four Irish officials, Alain Rolland, Alan Lewis, George Clancy and Peter Fitzgibbon on the IRB’s top 16 panel of elite officials. New Zealand only has one.

Yet it is difficult to escape the feeling that referees have not been helped by the lawmakers on the IRB. Such has been the tinkering with the rules – and the crazy scenario of different laws in operation at the same time in the northern and southern hemisphere last season – it is no wonder the interpretation applied by referees, even at the very top, is open to variance.

That leads to inevitable problems, with Saracens director of rugby Brendan Venter the latest to land himself in hot water with his declaration that the outcome of games is now determined by referees and not rugby teams.

Does Venter have a point?

There’s definitely a lack of consistency from game to game in the way the laws are applied and this leads to immense frustration for players, coaches and even spectators.

It can be very illuminating to stand on the terrace and listen to the abuse thrown at referees, berating the officials despite being in blissful ignorance of some of the recent law changes.

Mind you, it requires a dedicated student of the game to stay abreast of all the changes introduced since the last World Cup.

Over a six-week period in May and June last, the Super 14 had 25 experimental law variations (ELVs) in place, the Heineken Cup had 13 and by the time the Lions travelled to South Africa, they had been reduced to 10.

Is there any wonder that even the best referees were confused at times? What chance has the casual observer? The problem at the moment is that pure law cannot be delivered. The best referees apply 80% common sense and 20% law application.

That is what separates Alain Rolland from the rest, along with the obvious advantage of having played the game at the very highest level. He communicates well with players on the field. That is the secret. Another difficulty which none of the elite officials would ever admit is that the top referees are in competition for appointment in the biggest tournaments. In a team game, they operate as ‘Lone Rangers’.

The introduction of the assistant referee – who has greater powers than the touch judge – should offer assistance to the man in the middle but in the cutthroat world of professional refereeing, I would be amazed if rivalry doesn’t exist between individuals from different countries.

There have been numerous examples in games I have commentated on where the assistant referee could have offered more support to his colleague with the whistle.

The greatest areas of contention surround the breakdown, the scrum and the most difficult of all – the tackle. There is so much for an official to address around the tackle area that it has become a nightmare.

What differentiates rugby union from related sports like American football and rugby league is that it is the only game of its type that continues after the tackle is made. In the other two, play stops.

It is the battle for possession after the tackle is made that creates so many problems. The most recent changes which empower the tackler and the third man in to keep hands on the ball after the ruck has formed, as long as he is on his feet, has also added to the mix of possibilities.

Much depends on how quickly support arrives for the tackled player. In the recent game against Australia, Ireland’s Stephen Ferris was penalised by Jonathan Kaplan for not releasing in the tackle when he was held by the ankle. Yet in the exact same scenario later in the game an Australian player escaped sanction because his support got there early and camouflaged his body position.

THE autumn internationals also threw up several inconsistencies in relation to the refereeing of the scrum. Issues surrounding the scrum engagement and binding must cause sleepless nights for some officials and the lack of consistency is frightening.

Within a few hours of each other, Paul James was penalised three times by Wayne Barnes in the opening 20 minutes of the Welsh game against Australia for doing the exact same thing that South Africa’s BJ Botha got away with against Cian Healy – boring in at an angle on the opposition hooker.

This reached farcical proportions in the Italian match against New Zealand where Martin Castrogiovanni made mincemeat of the New Zealand scrum in their international at the San Siro.

In the last few minutes, Italy had eight scrums within five metres of the All Black line with New Zealand in all kinds of trouble. Italian coach Nick Mallett was incensed when referee Stuart Dickinson refused to award the Italians a penalty try and I would agree with him.

Yet after the match, Dickinson was hung out to dry by IRB ref’s chief Paddy O’Brien who apologised to the All Blacks, claiming that Italy were illegal in seven of those eight scrums and that Dickinson did not interpret the situation properly.

Add in the latitude offered to Tendai Mtawarira against Phil Vickery in the opening Lions test in Durban by Bryce Lawrence and you have total inconsistency in the way the scrum is refereed by the top officials.

What chance has the amateur operating in the All-Ireland League?

While the number of scrums has reduced dramatically from an average of 35 per game 20 years ago to 18 now, the problem is that the majority of those have to be reset for a variety of reasons. The irony is that in the old days there were precious few scrum resets.

The breakdown has become an even more difficult area to call where players will get away with different approaches in different games.

Munster’s opening Heineken Cup game this season in Franklin’s Gardens was refereed by Christophe Berdos from France and he operated under a different charter to his counterparts in the Magners League.

In the French championship for example, referees seem to be far more lenient on players going off their feet at the breakdown. Northampton were coming in from the side with impunity and after a while, the Munster players decided to do likewise even though they knew they would not get away with it with a Magners League official.

If the ball carrier is isolated in contact and outnumbered by opposition players, he is under immediate pressure to release the ball. Yet the time he is afforded by referees to place the ball on his side of the ruck can vary from game to game. Another area of contention is the variance in the application of the advantage law. We could go on...

For me, the best referees are those who exercise good old-fashioned cop on but it is a very difficult situation in that in every big game in which they officiate, they are subjected to intense scrutiny from an assessor.

Therefore at times he could receive a poor rating for not applying the strict application of law. Maybe that is why Wayne Barnes is rated so highly, yet the games he presides over are often penalty-infested affairs.

It really is a very difficult job.

So the next time you feel like abusing a referee, ask yourself the question – am I up to speed with the laws of the game and second, acknowledge that the man in the middle has a very difficult job to do.