Dropped: Paul Marks
Paul Marks has been relieved of his immediate Super 14 responsibilities following a contentious refereeing incident at Sydney Football Stadium.
SANZAR referees chief Lyndon Bray questioned Marks' decision whereby he did not award the Sharks a penalty try when Waratahs replacement Kurtley Beale slapped down a pass that seemed destined for an unchallenged Ryan Kankowski, but went on to say that Marks had other aspects of his game to work on.
Only a yellow card and penalty from distance were awarded as the hosts eventually held on to win the game 25-21, which left away coach John Plumtree far from happy during the post-match.
"There was some imbalance from a management perspective, how he (Marks) arrived at these big decisions and how they were presented," Bray said, speaking to The Australian.
"Paul has been 'stood down', to work on some management versus technical issues. It is not all about that one decision!
"In fairness to Paul, you could debate the penalty try ruling all day.
"We believe the right decision in the cold light of day was to award a penalty try, but you could argue why a referee would back off it."
Referees' selection panel member Andrew Cole went on to explain that explain that claims made that Kankowski was certain to score were not true, as he believed 'Tahs centre Tom Carter was set to cover the South African eight in defence.
"Admittedly he had a fair bit of work to do, and we all know how quick Kankowski is," Cole said.
"But Paul would have seen him in his peripheral vision...he would have known there was a defender there."
Comments
dsds says...
Oh and Trinats, I forgot: did you see the huge smile on Beale's face as he trots off for his yellow. He knows full well he's got away with it. Handed the game by an Aussie ref, and even Lyndon Bray agrees, for God's sake.
Posted 12:40 15th March 2010
dsds says...
@ trinats,
Save it for April Fool's Day.
Aussies accept the ref's ruling as final like great whites accept a seal's request to come back another day. Except in the case of Aussie refs, who regularly offer Aussie teams a handup, or, as in this case, a knockdown. THEN they accept it alright.
You don't know if I've ever played rugby. I don't know if you've ever owned two eyes, but in the latter case I have good reasins to doubt it.
Posted 11:58 15th March 2010
Trinats says...
dsds:
You missed the whole point. A refs decision is final. Not sure if you ever played rugby yourself, but "yes sir" is the right response to referring decision, move on. A decision (in the heat of the moment as it was) is not like soccer or cricket it's, rugby and it's respected (at least in Australia any way, unlike certain players ( Burger ref pushers !!).
End of the day tahs won, end of story, history.
For me, Beale went for the intercept, as he has done in previous games and missed it, it was a knock on , not a deliberate one (watch you tube). And don't give in to the media hype, have your own view.
Posted 12:44 13th March 2010
dsds says...
@Trinats,
No Trinats, an Aussie ref handed an Aussie team the game. Nothing contentious, more habitual. Is there anyone anywhere who doesn't believe Aussie refs to be the world's worst? As bad as their commentators are biased....
Posted 05:18 13th March 2010
Trinats says...
Wow did a ref miss interpreted something in favor of an Aussie side, that has to be the contentious refereeing incident !
Posted 12:37 12th March 2010
andrew1 says...
Andrew Cole had this to say "Tahs centre Tom Carter was set to cover the South African eight in defence.
"Admittedly he had a fair bit of work to do, and we all know how quick Kankowski is,"
Kankowski had a fair bit of work to do to score his first try. There is no doubt that it should have been a penalty try.
Who is to say Tom Carter had the pace to track down Kankowski anyway he ran away from Drew Mitchell to score his first try.
Kankowski would have cantered to the line.
Poor refereeing!
Posted 03:11 12th March 2010
Beanskin says...
Good call to drop Marks! As Lindon Bray indicated it is not all about one decision, it is as much about what he doesn't blow than what he does. In this particular game Phil Waugh commited several professional fouls in his own 22 and no whistle blow. Good on Waugh, that's his job. It is the refs job to pick it up.
Posted 20:35 11th March 2010
brazilrugger says...
this is great news. the poor and biased refereeing is a real sham. I am not a sharks supporter but they have every right to feel aggrieved
Posted 15:08 11th March 2010
bruce says...
I don't think there's any cause for a conspiracy theory - Marks had a poor game plain and simple.
Then again plenty of players had a poor game over the weekend as well and haven't copped as much flak.
I'm glad to see some public censure though - it's important for the professionalism of the game. Hopefully he sits out a couple weeks, and comes back a better and stronger ref for it. Making mistakes is normal, as long as they learn from them the quality of all refereeing will go up.
Posted 09:53 11th March 2010
willems says...
Not to forget the try awarded by the TMO where he must have had X-RAY vision to see the grounding of that one Tahs "try"! Think the TMO should also be relieved of his duties. The Ausies havent had a single team in the top 4 of the Super 14 for some time now, continuing on where they left off last year...guess they have to find other means to keep up with the best!!!
Posted 07:06 11th March 2010
Rhino says...
God please no more TMO's, they take an age to make a decision, as bad as a comittee. Refs make mistakes and to be fair Kankowski was a long way from the try line.
Point of note editors Beale knocked the ball up, not down (i.e. he didn't slap it down), not that it matters as deliberately knockin the ball forward is a penality offence.
Posted 01:35 11th March 2010
jonathankappie says...
Could not agree more with dropping Paul...I am the furthest thing from a Sharks Supporter...but kankowskie was definately going to score that try...no question about it.
@SCB45
Stop looking through your aussie goggles and make informed remarks...everybody, even the Tahs coach said it would have been a try...Marks made many many more mistakes in that game as well...poor poor reffing on his behalf...no conspiracy theories needed from a South African point of view.
Posted 21:38 10th March 2010
VicSoCalRugger says...
^^^ dont give me that b.s. the ref was very unbalanced and biased against the sharks, it was very obvious!
Posted 21:13 10th March 2010
sjambok says...
Of more importance was teh sheer ridiculousness of teh decision by Walsh and his TMo in awarding a penaty try against the Lions from a scrum where he had called the ball out already.
And the awarding of a try to the Brumbies for what was OBVIOUSLY a double movement.
Thats a 14 point turnaround that cannot be explained by "being distracted" or "missed in the heat of action". It can only be explained by maliciousness.
Posted 19:49 10th March 2010
SCB45 says...
Next thing you know the referees (humans at my last viewing) will be replaced by full time TMO's.
Posted 17:49 10th March 2010