Refs badly served by the lawmakers

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.