The morning after the night before. We've all been there on a Sunday morning, opening up the curtains, blinking in the bright sunshine, before looking at your phone and being trapped by The Fear - what did I do last night? You go into a mild panic, trying desperately to piece together the previous evening's events, actions of yourself and others. All and any conversations that you can remember, in order to provide a coherent recollection of what actually happened, in the desperate belief of trying to ensure that you came out of it ok, reputation intact. Well on this Sunday morning, spare a thought for French referee Pascal Gaüzère, whose fear will not be alcohol induced, but no doubt, be all too real.
For those of us who call themselves lucky enough to be a Leicester Tigers and England supporter, yesterday's 40-24 defeat to Wales was a perfect way to end a disappointing afternoon, as it followed Leicester's 17-3 defeat earlier on, away at Bristol. Both games ended in defeat for our sides, but both games were marred by refereeing decisions of such question, the situation almost became farcical. However, what is more troubling, is that the most surprising element about the standard of refereeing in both games, is that it is not that surprising at all. And this now creates a problem for the sport, and points to a wider problem overall.
Before we go on, this is not sour grapes. Leicester came up short against Bristol. I do not believe they deserved to win the game. They played well, with heart, spirit and commitment, fighting to the end, but ultimately coming up short. In the same token, England did not deserve to win. They also played well, and with the game level at 24 apiece going into the last quarter, they should have took the opportunity to go on and win the game. They did not, Wales did, Wales deserved to win the game. End of. But ultimately, whilst Bristol and Wales did not win the game directly because of the referee, the refereeing decisions had such a major impact on the game, they did go a long way in deciding who the victor was, and it is this which causes so much concern.
So what did Christophe Ridley and Pascal Gaüzère actually do that has caused so much uproar for fans of both sides? Well let's start in the Leicester game. With half and hour gone, the game was scoreless, with a young Tigers side coping well to repel the waves of Bristol's defence, whilst trying to throw a punch of their own. As Bristol attacked once more, they knocked on, the ball bounced off the knee of Matías Moroni who tried to hack through, but unsuccessfully. No advantage gained within 3 seconds of the knock-on, come back for the original offence shall we? Not so for Mr Ridley, with play continuing as if nothing had happened. As the play progresses over further phases, that man again Moroni, in the act of defence, makes himself as big as possible and blocks the Bristol pass. The ball appears to hit his chest, then his arm, then ultimately forward. Knock-On? Yes. Deliberate? Under the rules, yes. Need for further sanction? Dubious. Ridley, however wanted to double check and asked for a replay, where he was shown that at the point of the offence, there were numerous Bristol players stood outside the man. In theory that was enough for a yellow card, however Ridley conveniently forgot/chose not to see the multiple Tigers players also stood there in defence and gave the yellow card anyway. That 10 minute period down to 14 men, culminated in 14 points, a lead that Bristol never gave away. Given the margin of victory, it is hard not to think - what if it had been a full compliment of players for 80 minutes? Whilst Tigers may not have won, it would have made a much closer encounter. Certainly the first try conceded was directly linked to Morini going to the sin-bin, and ultimately came off a basic knock-on advantage that was not given. It is hard to not argue the referee has impacted the game, in a fairly large manner.
Ridley's second half did not see much improvement, he then proceeded to miss further knock-ons as well as not coming back for the original offence, to replicate his first half error. Tigers then found themselves camped on the Bristol line, trying to force a try. In this period, the Bears conceded 5 penalties for different offences. Any warning to their captain about the use of the yellow, or indeed actually use the yellow for repeated infringements whilst on their own line? Apparently not. The yellow remained safely within his pocket for the whole period. This would have been fine, if had not followed Ridley giving Tom Youngs a yellow card warning for the team, after only TWO line out infringements in defence, in the first half. It is difficult to not feel hard done by, when faced with such vast inconsistency and such questionable competence or grasp of the laws.
The resulting England game almost speaks for itself. England gave away 14 penalties all game, a fair few of which were deserved, but a worryingly large amount were dubious at best. But that pales in comparison to the two big moments. The 1st try, scored by Josh Adams, followed a quick kick to the corner, with Adams gathering and dotting down comfortably. The reason for being so comfortable? Well Monsieur Gaüzère had indicated time off, told Owen Farrell to give his man a speaking to, allowed the England team to gather to hear such talking to then, then allowed time back on whilst the team still in the gathering. Martin Johnson's words of being speechless at half-time seemed to sum it all up. Wales' second try, also seemed to be questionable, with young Rees-Zammit appearing to drop the ball, being knocked back by an England players before being dotted down by the Welshman. To all intents and purposes, this was a knock-on. Certainly LRZ, looked gutted to have blown the chance and was not celebrating. The replay looked to confirm that he was not in control of the ball, and therefore a knock-on offence. Not so for the man in black. Try awarded, 14 points scored , mountain to climb for England.
Now as stated, both teams deserved to lose. But both teams can rightly feel hard done by, by refereeing decisions which are at best dubious, and at worst, wildly, wildly wrong. Both teams can point to the decisions made having a large and material impact on the game and ultimate result. This should not be the case, but over recent months, this has turned into a trend. Ten years ago, disagreeing with the referee meant a difference of opinion on interpreting the laws. Whilst it may have caused mild annoyance, it never ever impacted the result of the game. Fast forward to now, we now see referees not only interpreting the laws differently, but in addition they appear to operate in a different reality and see things that either aren’t happening or ignoring what is actually in front of them. This then results in them refereeing a completely different game then what is actually being played. Well how do you coach that? If we're going to ignore basic knock-on advantage for example, or look at at a replay and ignore the evidence in front of your eyes, then what is the point? It is hard to watch a game where the refereeing is that bad, the choice is either gross incompetence or borderline corrupt.
The problem was not confined to the Tigers and England games. Ireland over in Italy, will also feel hard done by when replaying Ian Henderson's burst to the line. Despite all the video evidence pointing towards a try for the Ulsterman, a try was not awarded. Now this did not have a material impact on the game nor the result, but that does not make it any less of a mistake. It does not mean that it should be forgotten about or ignored. These are the type of decisions that there can be no excuses for poor decision making.
This then points to a wider problem with the referees, how many actually would you rate as being a consistently good referee? In my opinion, Wayne Barnes is one, Luke Pearce is another, but that is it. The Premiership is the best league in this country for rugby, it is supposedly an elite competition, but we are faced with having only 2 referees of any worth. That simply is not good enough. Not when the money in the game is going up, and more rides on the decision making on the man in the middle. What if relegation was a factor, and a refereeing decision would have a major impact on a side staying up or going down, would you trust them to make the right call? Too often now, it is hard to say that they would.
Rugby is a game built on traditions, foremost is of the respect to the referee. It is a source of pride for all of us, the respect that is given to the referees, and addressing them as "Sir". But this respect, forms part of an unwritten contract in my book. The players agree to respect the referee, and be polite in their dealings with him (or her!). In return, the referee agrees to referee the game with competence and fairness to create an equal environment for both teams to try and win the game. Well if the officials cannot keep their end of the bargain, then you cannot expect players to keep theirs. They ultimately are the ones putting their body on the line each week, you cannot have their effort undermined with such poor officiating.
Rugby as a sport is at a crossroads, and it feels a sport that is lost. The game has grown in size dramatically, with money flooding into the game leading to increased interest. However, the style of play and the games themselves are mostly turgid, the game feels like it still being ran by amateurs with the smell of the old boys network everywhere. The red card situation which occurred last week feels like a game trying to keep all parties happy but failing everyone. The breakdown more often than not is a mess. The club game should be the lifeblood of the game, yet is being treated like a second class citizen. Added into the mix, we now have a standard of refereeing which just is not up to scratch. Given the pandemic, all eyes are focussed more on what sport is being played. Currently, rugby is failing in my eyes, with more and more people falling out of love with the game. Arguably, a lack of crowds, is a major factor, but it is not the only cause. Those stated above, are more worrying factors that need to be overcome.
Yesterday bordered on the farcical, but this was not the first time this has happened, and it does not look like it is going to change soon. So does rugby have a refereeing problem? Unfortunately, in my eyes it does.