Standard of Pro12 Refereeing

[Thingimubob]

I'm probably sounding like a bit of a broken record with this, but the standard of refereeing is making a lot of Pro 12 games almost un-watchable.

Dragons vs Blues just now was just godawful, seemed like the bloke in the middle was just relying on guesswork for the majority of his calls, especially at scrum time.

Doesn't help that there isn't really a good Welsh ref below Nigel Owens, who hasn't been reffing many Pro 12 games recently.

West Wales derby last weekend was the same. The teams didn't play all that well, but Marius Mitrea did not let the game flow at all. Was pretty dire stuff to watch.

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

Well, I think other referee's are not bad, when I watch Edinburgh or Glasgow play I thought the ref's were good they made good decisions, but I haven't watched the other games to be honest so that might just be me.

 

[Peat]

Remove the word Pro 12 and I'll agree with you...

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

The league needs a new tagline, "Welcome to the Pro12, where it's Nigel or bust."

 

[psychic duck]

The league needs a new tagline, "Welcome to the Pro12, where it's Nigel or bust."

Owens is without doubt the most overrated referee in the world.

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

Owens is without doubt the most overrated referee in the world.

Overrated or not, he's a clear shot better than Marius Matrea.

 

[Amiga500]

Its easy to blame the referee - but when each of us praises our own players for being "streetwise" (i.e. holding up the ball) and criticises the opposition for "dirty disruptive play" (lying all over the ball) - then how can the referees win?

 

[goodNumber10]

Its easy to blame the referee - but when each of us praises our own players for being "streetwise" (i.e. holding up the ball) and criticises the opposition for "dirty disruptive play" (lying all over the ball) - then how can the referees win?

^^^this x 1000

 

[Thingimubob]

Its easy to blame the referee - but when each of us praises our own players for being "streetwise" (i.e. holding up the ball) and criticises the opposition for "dirty disruptive play" (lying all over the ball) - then how can the referees win?

While I get what you mean, its not even that side of reffing that has been annoying me. Its the just general poor calls, that more often that not make no sense.

Penalties for nigh on nothing, knock ons given when there simply wasn't one, then blatant knock ons being ignored, TMO for EVERYTHING (Looking at you Mitrea)... Don't even get me started on the lottery that is the scrum.

 

[munstermuffin]

Dare I say it I find Mitrea good. Yea he goes to TMO a good bit but majority of time you can see why but he's fair and consistent

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

John Lacey has ruined a game of rugby, flat passes called forward, inconsistent at the breakdown and generally rubbish. How is this man kept up at this level?

 

[Tony Manx]

A complaint about Lacey........good heavens. Whatever next!!

 

[rhys87]

I thought Ben Whitehouse in the Ulster v Scarlets game was poor. His performance was summed up when the touch judge came up to him and said that Nick Williams should have had a yellow card for a shoulder charge. He then decided to go upstairs to the TMO even after the touch judge gave his recommendation after which he only gave a penalty!! Whether the decision was right or not there must be some element of trust between the officials rather than relying on the TMO which slows the game down.

 

[Drumbodiehard]

I thought Ben Whitehouse in the Ulster v Scarlets game was poor. His performance was summed up when the touch judge came up to him and said that Nick Williams should have had a yellow card for a shoulder charge. He then decided to go upstairs to the TMO even after the touch judge gave his recommendation after which he only gave a penalty!! Whether the decision was right or not there must be some element of trust between the officials rather than relying on the TMO which slows the game down.

Maybe we should ignore all the touch judges as the prove to be useless. Regarding the Nick Williams incident, it was seen to be a fair and legal clearout.The referee only gave a penalty to close out the half and save the touch judge and further embarasment.

 

[Amiga500]

I thought Ben Whitehouse in the Ulster v Scarlets game was poor.

Your right....

He didn't seem to understand that the Scarlets standing two yards beyond the ruck constitutes being offside!

As for the incident in question - is that not an example of why the new TMO rules were brought in? The TMO can look from multiple (usually better) angles and make the correct* call.

*not that this always happens.

 

[profitius]

The standard isn't the best but rugby is a very hard game to ref. I'd like to see the linesmen policing the offside line in future and let the ref concentrate on the breakdown.

The best refs like Nigel Owens try to let the game flow as much as possible. That means favouring the attacking side at the breakdown, letting slightly forward passes go, if a ball falls backwards they won't blow up for a knock on etc.

 

[Drumbodiehard]

drumbodihard

The standard isn't the best but rugby is a very hard game to ref. I'd like to see the linesmen policing the offside line in future and let the ref concentrate on the breakdown.

The best refs like Nigel Owens try to let the game flow as much as possible. That means

Please define slightly forward, 10cms, half a metre,5 metres

 

[profitius]

Please define slightly forward, 10cms, half a metre,5 metres

Not clearly forward. Nobody is going to get it spot on so you have to give the passer the benefit of the doubt.

 

[ihump]

John Lacey has ruined a game of rugby, flat passes called forward, inconsistent at the breakdown and generally rubbish. How is this man kept up at this level?

I think a lot of refs are poor but try their best. Lacey is a combination of stupity and biased decision making.

 

[YoungScud]

The standard isn't the best but rugby is a very hard game to ref. I'd like to see the linesmen policing the offside line in future and let the ref concentrate on the breakdown.

The best refs like Nigel Owens try to let the game flow as much as possible. That means favouring the attacking side at the breakdown, letting slightly forward passes go, if a ball falls backwards they won't blow up for a knock on etc.

Did I read that right? Letting slightly forward passes go? Well, that's a new interpretation of the law, which touches on one of the main problems. It's not a ref's job to interpret, it's his job to apply the law. Picking and choosing which laws to apply shouldn't be allowed to happen. If laws are unclear, the they should be rewritten to remove doubt, and then applied. For example, no ref at the top levels even attempts to police the put-in at a scrum, yet we were promised last year by WR that this would be striclty monitored. Is it that difficult to simply stick to the laws?

As for Owens, I'll grant you he's witty, but he's the guy who, in two different games last season, acting as touch judge, asked the TMO to decide whether or not the ball cleared the bar. He was standing under it! Meanwhile, Mitrea's getting abuse for using the TMO. Frankly, I'd get rid of the whole TMO set up. Too many clearly wrong decisions are being made. Put the pressure back on the ref. If he sees an offence, or sees a ball being grounded, he awards the decision. If not, he doesn't. It's what he's paid for.