Too much TMO?
One of the most talked about elements of RWC 2015 is the use of the Television Match Official - we have seen an explosion in terms of referees and their assistants passing on responsibility to the TMO.
The 2015 edition of the Rugby World Cup is now over a week old, and there have been many talking points raised across various elements of the game. One of the most talked about is the use of the Television Match Official.
Before the tournament began we saw the TMO being called in to adjudicate slightly more often than the Six Nations or the Autumn Internationals; but now, in just a week, we have seen an explosion in terms of referees and their assistants passing on responsibility to the TMO.
This began with the opening game, which seems to have set a precedent for those following. The example to draw on here is the Nikola Matawalu 'try' in the corner. The Assistant Referee suggested that Jaco Peyper go upstairs to see whether Matawalu had been in touch when he dotted down. The decision was made after watching a couple of angles, that he was indeed in the field of play. Excellent, only a minute or so of time taken; play can continue. As the Fijian fly-half lines up his conversion, the crowd begins to voice their displeasure as another replay is shown on the big screen, an angle not previously looked at by the TMO. On the screen is Matawalu dropping the ball over the line. Peyper stops play moments before the kick, followed by a further minute or so of analysing the replays, despite already having awarded a score to Fiji. Already, in this one instance, there has been at least 3-4 minutes added onto the time the match is taking, albeit with the clock stopped.
The analysts upstairs discussed this after the game, with John Inverdale disbelievingly asserting that the game was actually 20-25 minutes longer than the allotted 80 minutes, simply because of the TMO times. Sean Fitzpatrick even questioned the qualifications that are needed by TMOs when the people at home watching can make the same decision after one replay with rewinding and slowly down constantly for a minute or two. A very awkward moment for the other analysts involved!
In many ways, referees need to back themselves more than the players on the field. With overall control of the outcome of a match potentially in their hands, referees must have the utmost confidence in their decision making abilities. The referees at the World Cup are some of the most qualified officials around, so why are they not going with their instinct? In the South Africa vs Samoa game the Assistant Referee immediately spotted foul play by JP Pieterson on Alesana Tuilagi, namely pulling him down after a kick through, and alerted Wayne Barnes. The Assistant gave his recommendation, only for Barnes to go upstairs before making the exact decision that had already been proposed. Surely if a decision was made on the field by one of the three officials, that should be taken, and only try scoring acts should be looked at, as they do in American Football?
There was another moment in the game where Fourie Du Preez asked if Mr Barnes would look at an incident upstairs. I have seen these questions put to other referees, but Wayne Barnes gave the most succinct answer to Du Preez - he said that to fold to his persistent requests to go upstairs would mean he would lose credibility as the game's official. Talk about asserting your authority in the game! But why not do this consistently when making other decisions or being advised by the assistants?
I don't mean to berate the officials; as I have said, they are some of the best in the business, and they are certainly managing the scrum considerably better than during the Six Nations - the ball when playable is deemed so even if the front row collapses, a great improvement! But let's hope that from here on in, there is a call from the top of the officiating tree to keep the TMO use down and judge the game as it is meant to be so; the man in the middle with the whistle in his hand.
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Rugby World Cup
Written by: Michael Kerr
Follow: @michaelj_kerr · @therugbymag