Legendary All Blacks coach: World Rugby should ‘blow up’ the law book as players are left ‘dumbfounded’
Match referee Angus Gardner makes a decision as New Zealand's Damian McKenzie and Ardie Savea with an inset of ex-All Blacks coach Sir Graham Henry.
2011 Rugby World Cup-winning All Blacks coach Sir Graham Henry believes that the game’s law book needs a complete overhaul.
This comes after New Zealand kicked off their Rugby Championship campaign with five yellow cards in their opening two games against Argentina.
Scott Robertson’s side has also been accused of being the “dumbest and dirtiest team in world rugby” by a renowned Kiwi journalist as a result.
Henry has dismissed that notion as he believes that the laws are far too complicated for fans and even players to understand, and has called on the game’s governing body, World Rugby, to “blow up” the current set of laws and start over from scratch.
Blow up the law book
The former coach’s sentiments were somewhat echoed by ex-All Blacks back-rower Murray Mexted, who rued the number of stoppages in the All Blacks‘ defeat to Los Pumas in Argentina.
“It was exceptional that there were an enormous number of stoppages in that game and penalties. When you have a stop-start game, the best team doesn’t necessarily win that game. It’s the team that sort of got the attention to detail,” Mexted said on the Platform NZ.
“You’d have to say, all the media leading up to that game was, ‘We want to give away as few penalties as we can during this game’. They were all talking about discipline, so they [the All Blacks] were trying. They obviously didn’t achieve it. Maybe the referee was listening to the conversation before the game too, and who knows.”
Henry aired his grievances about the law book on Newstalk ZB when he was asked whether there should be a concern about the All Blacks’ discipline, understanding of the laws and if there is an overall issue with the law book.
“I think the rule book is too complicated,” he replied.
“They should blow it up and start again, quite frankly, it’s a negative.”
The 79-year-old says that World Rugby have to act quickly to sort out the law book.
“They should get some brains together and just simplify the rule book so that everyone understands, even the players are sometimes dumbfounded by the rulings of the referee,” he continued.
“That’s something World Rugby needs to sort out and sort out quickly.”
The officiating of the game has been in the spotlight in recent months, with pundits in New Zealand stating bemoaning the overuse of the TMO during the British and Irish Lions tour.
Jake White: Eden Park is ‘make or break’ for All Blacks who have lost their ‘aura’
Former fly-half Stephen Donald, who won the World Cup with Henry in 2011, hit out at the number of replays it took for the officials to reach final decisions during the Lions’ clash with the NSW Waratahs.
“As soon as you get to three or four [replays] for me, it’s game over because we’ll just go with what the referee and on-field assistants have seen,” he said on Sky Sports NZ’s Breakdown.
“What’s eight versus five versus six going to determine? All it’s going to do is put people asleep on their couches at home.
“It’s either we’re getting referred from upstairs – which is fine if they can do it in live time like I think we saw some knock-ons yesterday maybe two phases late that’s fine if we can do it that quick then so be it – but it’s the committee meetings of the three on field and talking to the guy upstairs and then looking at big screens, which just takes all the air out of the game.”
READ MORE: Sir Graham Henry slams ‘ridiculous’ notion that the All Blacks are the ‘dumbest and dirtiest’ team
