Frustrations that are killing rugby
I had forgotten what enthusiasm is generated by having the RWC in your own country and, a few transportation problems in Auckland aside, the buzz created this past weekend has been outstanding.
It’s great to see full stadiums and the cheerful goodwill of supporters from participating nations. In a carryover from the global sevens series, fans are displaying much more flair than has been commonplace in the 15-a-side game by dressing up to support their team and it is adding real atmosphere to this tournament.
As expected, the professional rugby environment has improved the RWC experience for the so-called second tier nations. Their standard of play has leapt forward and while some of the winning margins seem wide, just taking the score into account doesn’t tell the whole story. Teams are more competitive and all major nations have had to battle for significant periods during their opening matches.
But there are two facets of this World Cup that are less enjoyable and both revolve around the same area of the game — the refereeing.
Most people agree that if rugby has a problem, it’s the multitude of laws and the opportunity this creates for referees to influence both the style of game played and the result.
The biggest blight is the set-piece and in particular the scrum. Very few people who aren’t in the two front rows understand what is happening and players are adept at manipulating the ref.
While Ireland produced some great referees, Limerick’s George Clancy still has some distance to go before he reaches the top level. With Limerick being the heart of Irish forward play he must surely have come across some cunning scrummaging in his early years, yet in the first game of this tournament, All Blacks versus Tonga, he almost single-handedly killed off the match as a spectacle when he allowed seven minutes of reset scrums and penalties.
With so much emphasis nowadays on keeping the ball in play for longer periods and making the game more exciting there is no place for pedantic refereeing. Referees must have the courage of their convictions. If New Zealand was offending, Clancy should have awarded Tonga a penalty try or yellow-carded an All Black. If they weren’t, the teams should have been given more time to clear the ball, thus keeping the game alive.
Already the ‘crouch, touch, pause and engage’ of each scrum can be infuriatingly long. Add to this the time players are taking to form up and the scrum is taking an age.
However, I cannot emphasise enough how important the scrum is to the game, how vital it is to rugby’s uniqueness as a physical confrontation. And its positive aspect was apparent in the Ireland versus USA match where, in poor weather conditions, Ireland was able to use its scrum as a weapon and the scrum itself was well controlled by referee Craig Joubert.
The other blight on the game is the number of penalties at the breakdown. Obviously the aim of the RWC refereeing blitz at the breakdown is to speed up the game. Hopefully as the tournament progresses the message will start to get through to the players as to how they are expected to play.
Still, I would like to see more decisive action. In the England versus Argentina match, Kiwi ref Bryce Lawrence penalised England three times in close succession before issuing a team warning. Soon after England had a player sin-binned and the game opened up, although neither team seemed to know what to do with the ball.
Alain Rolland blew 10 penalties in 20 minutes without a team warning in the Australia versus Italy match. It took 40 minutes for the game to open up but he had made his mark and eventually the players reacted positively.
It has been great in both the Ireland versus USA and the Springboks versus Wales matches to watch the referees speeding up the lineout huddles. The best game and best refereeing display was left to the last game of the weekend when South Africa defeated Wales 17-16.
No one could say England’s Wayne Barnes was New Zealand’s favourite referee after 2007, where he controlled the All Blacks-France quarter-final that put New Zealand out of the tournament. However, on Sunday night he was outstanding. He kept the game fast and even in a tense situation he communicated clearly with the teams and allowed flow.
With such a close game it is easy to say the ref had an influence on the result but the match was decided by decisive play from the Springboks in their one real attacking opportunity in the second half.
After some uninspiring rugby in RWC 2007 I am looking forward this time round to seeing how the refereeing styles adapt. Not only are World Cups important for individual teams but it is a chance for referees from both the northern and southern hemispheres to work in unison over a concentrated period of time.
Their performance, as much as that of the players, will determine how rugby is played worldwide over the next four-year period.
