Henry lashes out at Irish referees over ‘lack of fitness’

ALL BLACKS hierarchy have complained about Irish referees’ lack of fitness for the second time in less than six months with head coach Graham Henry taking a swipe at Irish whistler Alan Lewis.

The Dubliner took charge of New Zealands’ closing November series victory over Wales last weekend and according to Henry, came down hard on the his side. In the aftermath, Henry called on the IRB to appoint two referees as a solution to fatigue which he attributed some erroneous calls to.

“It would be a good idea to have two referees. You sub the first one when he’s buggered and get the second one on,” said Henry. “I’m not being stupid. I honestly believe it would be an asset for the game because they do get into oxygen debt and then they struggle to make good decisions. Anything to help the game would be good and I think that would be a positive.”