O'Sullivan: Refs must be up to scratch

Eddie O’Sullivan has called on the RBS 6 Nations committee to review their policy of appointing inexperienced southern hemisphere referees.

O’Sullivan was relieved to learn Welshman Nigel Williams will take charge of Saturday’s encounter with Scotland at Lansdowne Road. Victory would give Ireland a first Triple Crown since 1985 and only the seventh in history.

While he has nothing against the more experienced officials such as New Zealand’s Paul Honiss jetting round the world to take charge of matches, he is concerned at the appearance of men who have no practical knowledge of the Six Nations.

Saturday’s 19-3 win over Italy was controlled by Kiwi Kelvin Deaker, who lacks previous Six Nations experience – a factor O’Sullivan felt contributed to his side’s below-par performance.

“I don’t see southern hemisphere referees being an inherent problem in itself,” O'Sullivan said.

“But what has happened is that some referees are dropped into the Six Nations without having had exposure to that type of rugby before, which is pretty horrendous for them really.

“I know people Down Under think the Tri-Nations is everything you could ask for plus a bag of chips besides but in terms of intensity the Six Nations is completely different to anything else.”

O’Sullivan believes the best way to introduce referees to the competition would be to bring them over initially as touch judges so they could get a feel for the sense of occasion surrounding each match.

“They should look at bringing them in as either an observer or a touch judge first,” he said.

“If you look at someone like Paul Honiss, who has refereed lots of times at that level, it doesn’t matter but otherwise it is too much of an ask.”

O’Sullivan felt Deaker should have awarded his side a penalty try against the Italians in Dublin, a score which would have opened up the possibility of a title triumph on Saturday.

As it is, Ireland need to beat Scotland by upwards of 50 points and then hope England defeat France in Paris.