new_j4a says...

@APV1...and I just read your last paragraph ...LOL When you said was i interested in an outing, i thought you were going to take me to rugby match... :)

Posted 18:33 16th July 2012

NHsaints says...

The stormers defence was incredible last season as well and that got them no-where. Against teams like the Crusaders, Reds and Cheifs who can split the line at a moments notice they're going to struggle.

Posted 18:00 16th July 2012

philipjfry says...

Not that it would happen but if I was in charge of the WORLD I would do away with the TMO and provide the fourth official with a portable monitor that can be taken on-to the pitch for the referee to rule on the video evidence himself. Then I would address famine and poverty, the civil war in Syria and Shades of Grey.

Posted 17:16 16th July 2012

APV1 says...

@ new_j4a - no irony, I'm not that bright! Do the refs meet the coaches in advince, which is one of my preferred solutions? I think it would make a massive difference, although the players may need to adapt their styles, depending on the comp, which seems wrong.

And I don't wake you up at an ungodly hour, I let you get your beauty sleep - God knows you need it! You know we record it and watch it cuddled up on the sofa with a Babycham. ;-)

Posted 15:58 16th July 2012

new_j4a says...

@AVP1. I am trying to figure out if the first 3 paragraphs are meant to be ironic? Pretty much all you advocate exists today. To answer your question ("Do they get cited and sanctioned?"), yes they do although I am not sure that the word cited is the correct word. You know that there are many, many more perceived howlers than there are real howlers. Refs are sanctioned when the howlers are real. Notice Bryce Lawrence was "downgraded." I have seen several top refs admitting to specific mistakes on ref education web sites.

Loved your bit on Cooper..."The Turnstile Clothesline"...LOL! Does he remind you of the Lion in the Wizard of Oz....Oz? Now there is a coincidence.

And in your wildest dreams you wish NH rugby was one tenth as exciting as SH....that's why you wake up at some ungodly hour to watch it....like me.

Posted 14:33 16th July 2012

APV1 says...

The officiating is bloody awful sometimes and needs to be rectified. Here's a solution which I have mooted before:

All ref's go to ref school - every year during the off season. This is an opportunity to develop as refs and for juniors to learn from seniors and so on. Then, just before each competition starts, the refs (for that comp) meet together with a coach from each team to discuss the hows and whys of the plan for the reffing of that comp. That way there's more of a level playing field and a chance that there might be some consistency!

And the TMO's should be qualified refs who have attended this school too. And what about publicly announcing any sanctions given to refs, if, indeed, they ever get any? Cricket and Tennis now have technological reviews and soccer is trialling goal-line technology. Yet we have four officials who, between them, sometimes still make an absolute howler. Do they get cited and sanctioned? Not for simple mistakes, but for the howlers...

"...it's an unwanted disciplinary blight on Cooper who had managed to keep his act clean for so long." Is that because he's been injured and not played for so long? He has a reputation (rightly, in my opinion) of not being very strong in defence (how diplomatic is that?!), so perhaps he felt the only way to stop the bloke was to stick out his arm. "The Turnstile Clothesline" has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

SARU's SNAFU - the only thing to make the RFU look almost competent. Almost.

And I've always said that so-called "Super" rugby was boring and mediocre. It's a little difficult to argue against that now, isn't it chaps?!

;-)

Posted 12:53 16th July 2012