South Africa vs British & Irish Lions - Test 1

[Bada-Bing!]

Lions furious with TMO choice

The British and Irish Lions are furious at the decision to have a South African as the Television Match Official for Saturday's first Test against the Springboks in Cape Town.

www.bbc.co.uk

A home TMO.

 

[TommiG88]

Lions furious with TMO choice

The British and Irish Lions are furious at the decision to have a South African as the Television Match Official for Saturday's first Test against the Springboks in Cape Town.

www.bbc.co.uk

A home TMO.

And Jonker… notoriously shite

 

[McTallshort]

Lions furious with TMO choice

The British and Irish Lions are furious at the decision to have a South African as the Television Match Official for Saturday's first Test against the Springboks in Cape Town.

www.bbc.co.uk

A home TMO.

Not worried. Home TMO will be more critical of the home team

 

[McTallshort]

Not available

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Lions furious with TMO choice

The British and Irish Lions are furious at the decision to have a South African as the Television Match Official for Saturday's first Test against the Springboks in Cape Town.

www.bbc.co.uk

A home TMO.

Its the home camera operators that are more influential. They are the ones thAt will be biased in terms of which foul plays or errors leading up to tries they show on the big screen at the match for the ref to see. Although its often the boos from the crowd that draw the refs attention to the big screen and there wont be that. Actually i guess maybe there wont even be someone operating the big screen for the fans given there arent any. Never mind me then.

 

[Reiser99]

"The tourists believe there should have been a contingency plan in place for an alternative, neutral official."

Well you helped organise the tour, you knew covid was a thing, you knew it could cause issues. Surely someone should have thought of this before it became an issue rather than getting outraged because no one thought ahead.

 

[Dean Cooperfield-West]

Does the TMO even need to be in the same country? Surely the images can be streamed to a TMO in whichever country they are in for viewing

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Not worried. Home TMO will be more critical of the home team

I agree with this. Its their job to be impartial. But there will be pressure not to look biased, both in terms of the effect of people saying they are a **** person, and also in terms of their ability to get the top level games in the future.
That pressure is likely to make them biased in the other direction.

its different when you are a tmo compared to an on-field ref too. If you are the main ref you will have players trying to convince you of things and you will be making decisions more in the heat if the moment. Thats when unconscious biases are more likely to come into play.

 

[General Melchett]

This reminds me of Alex Ferguson's mind games when he was in charge of Man Utd. Gatland knows exactly what he's doing by telling the press he's furious with the TMO appointment the day before the game. I doubt we'll see any bias now.

 

[Jakedood]

I mean there are issues with this, not that he'll be biased but its the appearance of being free from bias that's crucial
Imagine if you had either an English or SA TMO adjudging that Robinson try/no try in 2007, would not have gone well. Hopefully no massive decisions, but given TMO involvement these days, its definitely a worry

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

TBH, a home TMO makes me very nervous. And I am sure this "B&I Lions furious at home TMO" angle is just there to put additional pressure on the TMO. But its all speculation and we'll see soon enough how things pan out. For me, I'm just glad we are actually seeing a test.

My prediction is still 2 close wins for us and then a blow out for the tourists.

 

[Groundhog]

Yeah its absolutely (smart) gamesmanship on Gatland's part, ensuring the spotlight is on the TMO and he won't be making any wild decisions.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Yeh that's why I think they should have neutral TMO. Jonker could try and overcompensate to show he is not biased. It helps neither side.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Even Radio 1 reporting on Gatland's tantrum - they normally avoid rugby news like the plague


Honestly, like....what else could they do?
The only other refs in country are the British ones from the warm ups, in which case RSA could kick off about an English TMO or whatever

Like mentioned above: The TV directors/crowds have more influence than the TMO

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Neutral is always best. Though- a bit off trakc- I still have a chip on my shoulder over the 2011 RWC where Bryce Lawrence despite being technically neutral certainly had a horse in the race. That final was a non-contest because of his at best extreme incompetence dare I say deliberately blowing different games.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Not available

Yeh i notified mod(s) and Oly has referred this to @Blackbeard to look into as it's affecting all youtube vids posted up. @RedruthRFC seems to have pinpointed the problem with it.

 

[Protalus rampart]

The TMO worries me not because he's South African, but because he has a reputation of fumbling big decisions

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

The TMO worries me not because he's South African, but because he has a reputation of fumbling big decisions

Fair comment. He has even managed to stuff up a fair few Currie Cup games, at least put a bitter taste in the mouth, There certainly is more scope to do the same in what one would expect to be a close game on probably the 2nd biggest stage there is in the sport.

 

[MikeTheNative]

He's a professional ref so I don't think he's going to be biased for SA, just crap cause it's Joncker but on the other hand it's a bit mad that they don't have a neutral in such a big game.

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

Biased in refs is more what competition they usually ref. We can all see how the breakdown is reffed different in the north and south and France as well to be honest.
It must be hard for the players and really needs sorting out by world rugby when they arnt too busy adding stupid kicking laws into the game.