Greater consistency at elite level required, admits top refereeing chief

WORLD refereeing chief Paddy O’Brien has urged for consistency throughout rugby in the application of recently introduced interpretations of the game’s laws.

International Rugby Board referee manager O’Brien was speaking at the annual IRB High Performance Referees meeting which took place in London on Monday.

With the countdown to the Rugby World Cup 2011 in New Zealand and this year’s autumn internationals under way, O’Brien reiterated the importance of consistency and the universal application of rugby law in the five key areas that saw new directives issued in November 2009.

New interpretations concerned refereeing of offsides at the ruck, offside from kicks, illegal maul formation causing obstruction, the slowing down of the scrum engagement sequence and the tackle.

“Referees and the world’s top coaches have bought into the obligation to penalise clear and obvious offences in the five areas that are our top priority,” O’Brien said. “Collectively we are committed to promoting global consistency of the application of Law at Test and national competition level as we build to Rugby World Cup 2011.”

Irish referee Alain Rolland came in for fierce criticism over his handling of the Bledisloe Cup match between Australia and New Zealand 10 days ago for what was seen by the Southern Hemisphere teams as an overly long scrum sequence. O’Brien pointed to the success of this particular area but again urged for greater consistency .

“The 2010 Tri Nations saw a 40% decrease in the number of scrum resets compared to the 2010 June Tier 1 Tests, so this area of the game is improving,” the former Test referee from New Zealand said. “The coaches have all expressed their support of the referee leading the ‘crouch, touch, pause, engage’ scrum sequence and sanctioning players who fail to follow the calling of the engagement procedure, particularly early engagement.

“The message to the referees is clear. We require greater consistency at the elite level and compliance is critical in this key area of the game.”