Ex-ref boss demands ‘most urgent revision’ by World Rugby to better deal with ‘all forms of vile, sickening, dangerous play’
Retired Test referee Owen Doyle has revisited the controversial Oscar Jegou Six Nations incident in Scotland that left a sour taste.
The match officials did not punish the French flanker during the round four match for eye-gouging a Scottish rival at a Murrayfield ruck. Instead, the March 7 incident was cited by the match commissioner, and the resulting disciplinary hearing ended with Jegou receiving a four-match sanction after a low-end six-match entry point was reduced due to mitigation that included the player’s good conduct and disciplinary record.
This punishment was far more lenient than the 12-match ban brandished to Eben Etzebeth following his eye-gouge in South Africa’s Autumn Nations Series win over Wales last November.
That foul play was given a mid-range of 18 matches, which was reduced by six due to mitigating factors, but ex-Irish referees boss Doyle now wants World Rugby to become more serious in its sanctioning.
“It looked fairly awful…”
He has called on the game’s global governing body to address “all forms of vile, sickening, dangerous play with under a separate protocol, inclusive of no mitigation”.
Writing in his latest Irish Times column, Doyle reflected on the outcome of the Jegou case, initially taking umbrage that the incident was not dealt with during the match in Edinburgh after it was shown on the stadium screen.
“Regrettably, Jegou was not dealt with on the day by the match officials as referee Angus Gardner and TMO Brett Cronan didn’t immediately notice the player’s action,” he began. “But when Scotland scored soon afterwards, the replay screen showed the incident, clear as day.
“Gardner, who appeared to be watching the screen, talked of the off-field process. ‘If we don’t see it, there’s a citing.’ The TMO will also have viewed the replay, but he remained silent. World Rugby must look into why it was not dealt with on the spot, it looked fairly awful.”
Moving on to what followed at the disciplinary hearing after Ireland’s Ed Kenny, the match citing commissioner, picked up on the incident, Doyle was exasperated that Jegou only received a four-game ban that will expire following his club La Rochelle’s Challenge Cup round of 16 tie at Newcastle on April 4.
“The mitigation – I kid you not – included that the player was polite and behaved appropriately at the Zoom call hearing, Jegou receiving just a four-match suspension.
“Another element of the reduction was because Scotland’s Ewan Ashman was not injured. The lack of a serious injury was no more than a slice of good luck, and it is beyond belief that there can be varying degrees of une fourchette.
“The judiciary can claim that they were bound to apply World Rugby’s protocols, otherwise the high-level French defence, inclusive of lawyers, would have been all over them.”
Law discussion: Why Eben Etzebeth was handed a much harsher ban for eye-gouging than Oscar Jegou
Doyle called on World Rugby to take action quickly. “It confirms absolutely why these protocols need the most urgent revision,” he insisted. “All forms of vile, sickening, dangerous play must be dealt with under a separate protocol, inclusive of no mitigation. Meanwhile, the optics of this outcome present the sport in a terribly poor light.”
Doyle went on to express relief that the outcome of the match in Scotland didn’t impact who won the Six Nations title the following week. With Jegou escaping sanction in the round four game, France, with a full complement of 15 players, came back to score the tries they needed to secure the four-try bonus point.
Jegou even went on to score his team’s fifth try in the 79th minute at Murrayfield. However, the French ultimately won the title by two points ahead of Ireland the following weekend, so them not losing Jegou to a card in Scotland and getting a point from their 50-40 loss didn’t affect the trophy outcome.
The ex-ref ended his column by criticising the role of the TMO, referencing another incident involving Cronan, who had stayed silent in Edinburgh. “Cronan was on duty again in the France v England finale,” Doyle noted.
“When Nika Amashukeli called a ‘penalty advantage’ for England, the TMO promptly overruled the referee, who changed it to ‘scrum advantage’ and called it over.
“It was open play and, having heard Amashukeli’s decision, Cronan should not have interfered. It brings into sharp focus the TMO’s role, and begs the question, who are they, these TMOs?
“At present, it is seen as a specialist role, and it seems that anyone can apply. There are plenty of people doing the job who have never refereed at, or even near, elite level.
“There have been very clear examples which make it impossible to be convinced that these extremely well-intentioned TMOs have the expertise, the experience, and the rugby instinct to be completely competent, particularly when the pressure gauge ramps up.
“There is some talk of trying to involve former elite Test referees, getting them into the role. The same idea came up quite some time ago, informally it must be said, but only disinterest was expressed.”
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