Andy Goode doubles down on French TV director criticism: ‘It was clear as day’
Ex-England fly-half Andy Goode and an inset of Maxime Lucu's tackle on Alfie Barbeary.
Andy Goode has doubled down on his claim that the French TV director refused to provide TMO Ben Whitehouse the angles to correctly officiate the Investec Champions Cup semi-final between Union Bordeaux-Begles and Bath.
The former England fly-half was on commentary duty with Premier Sports for the last-four tie and was hugely critical of the host broadcaster, France TV, and the director for not showing multiple angles of potential high tackles on Bath’s Alfie Barbeary.
He took those complaints to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, during and after the game, where he claimed that TMO Whitehouse was not in control of the angles he could review and relied on the TV director to provide them.
Bath boss Johann van Graan was also irked by the lack of punishment as he pinpointed ‘three headshots’ on his number eight, but instead of pinning the blame on the officials, he pointed to the French TV director.
Ex-England fly-half doubles down on French TV director criticism
Speaking on The Rugby Pod with former Scotland lock Jim Hamilton and ex-Wales fly-half Dan Biggar, Goode went on an epic rant to explain what he experienced from the commentary box and why he believes that referee Nika Amashukeli and TMO Whitehouse were officiating the game with their hands tied behind their backs.
“I obviously brought it up in comms because when you’re watching it at home, and if you don’t work in TV and if you don’t see how it works behind the scenes, which I’ve been doing for 15 years… The people at home can’t understand what goes on behind the scenes and the systems behind it. So to be clear, I’ve said on coms yesterday, we’re at the behest of the French TV director,” Goode began.
“So I can’t call in for replays. When we’re the host broadcaster, I can call down to production and say, ‘Can I get a replay of that wicked offload, that pass, that break, that high shot?’ You can ask for these things. People are going, ‘Why aren’t you showing the replay of all the head shots?’ Because the Bath fans are pissed off. So, I’ve said on comms, it’s not Premier Sports’ fault. It is the TV director who is French, the host broadcaster, who are choosing what replays to show.”
TMO doesn’t have all the angles in the Champions Cup, Andy Goode claims
Like Van Graan, Goode refused to blame the officials for the unpunished dangerous tackles or further reviews of them and claimed that, unlike the United Rugby Championship, the Champions Cup doesn’t have systems in place like Hawk-Eye, which puts the TMO in full control.
“So, the next point of call is, well, what’s the f—ing referee doing? What’s the TMO doing that? And I’ve said it before, the TMO must be having a poo or be in the biscuit tin,” he continued.
“And it was clear as day yesterday on coms, I’ve got all the feeds in my ear from the TMO, from the ref, from production. I can hear Ben Whitehouse asking the French TV director, ‘I need to see more angles of that, can you get me more angles of that shot?’ And the French TV director’s just gone, ‘No, that’s the only angle, and that’s it’. And he wouldn’t replay it, he wouldn’t allow him to do his job.
“For the fans who are watching it at home, they’re going, Premier Sports isn’t showing the replays. And then, so I unpack it and go, ‘Actually, the French TV director won’t put any replays on’. So, then fans are like, well, the referees had a shocker, the TMO’s had a shocker, and they’re doing a tough job, but they’re doing a job with their hands tied behind their back because the TMO can’t see the replays.
Law discussion: How much influence do TV directors have on the modern TMO
“There are people coming at me on Twitter, going, ‘The TMO gets all the replays,’ but he does not, because there are different systems in different leagues. So the URC, for context, has Hawk-Eye, which gives the control to the TMO with all the angles. Champions Cup doesn’t have it. Prem doesn’t have it. So you’re at the behest in the Prem and the Champions Cup of the host TV broadcaster.
“We’ve said it for years in France, the French TV directors, they can find a shot of a beautiful pigeon in the sky or people in the crowd or a shot of the camera through the linesman’s legs looking at a scrum, and they do it all in an arty way. Yet every time, year on year, there are big talking points around why the French TV director hasn’t given the replay of the headshot or this happening or that.
“And you don’t hear Johan van Graan complain about anything, do you? Yet he’s come out, and he’s been very clear. He said Nika Amashukeli had a good game, Ben Whitehouse, the TMO, they’re doing a really tough job, but they’re not being helped by not getting the TV angles from the French TV director, and that puts it to bed. It only sits with the TV director from France.”
France TV hit back
On Monday, France Televisions’ rugby editor Cedric Beaudou hit back at the criticism, stating that the TMO has full control and has access to the angles they want to review.
“The video referee is the master of what he wants to see, and nowadays he has access to every camera, every angle,” he told AFP.
“Until he makes his decisions, we leave him to see what he wants to see. It’s impossible to hide footage.”
Meanwhile, the European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) defended the TMO and explained how the video footage is used by the video referee.
“The TMO interventions are managed by the television broadcast,” EPCR told AFP.
“Two screens are used: one live, and another with a five-second delay. This is identical for all EPCR matches.
“Every incident the TMO wants to study can be the subject of a formal review.”
