So just who would like to be a referee these days?

The ideal referee is one you don’t notice at all, but as long we have scrums officials are going to be pilloried from pillar to post

‘I think there is an opportunity for us all to learn here. We probably got a couple of things wrong . . . I thought our scrum had a great day.” Rob Penney after Munster defeated Saracens in December at Thomond Park despite some contentious scrum calls by Pascal Gaüzère.

“We didn’t always get the outcomes we would have liked but I’m pretty confident we were the dominant scrum.” Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall after the same game.

“We’re particularly disappointed with the five metre scrums again. It’s not a referee that has given us a lot of reward from five metre scrums and it was the same after the Ospreys game. We’ll write our report, send it in and see if we get some action.” Joe Schmidt after Leinster defeated Connacht at the RDS in November despite some contentious scrum calls by John Lacey.

The smart coach only complains about a referee in the aftermath of victory. The argument carries more weight. What the club coach also tends to do is sit down Monday morning and write a review for his assessors to examine.

“We will be communicating with them in a day or two,” said Penney after BJ Botha was consistently penalised by Gaüzère (who is not a Six Nations referee) in December. “I thought our scrum was operating pretty efficiently. Yeah, from BJ’s perspective he’s certainly frustrated.” The impression given to many coaches, players and supporters is that referees are being instructed to avoid a quagmire of scrums. It means they may be forced into a, eh, judgment call.

Props are the trickiest and most intimidating rugby players. They know far more about this dark art than the lightweight men standing in judgement.

Even former players turned game keepers – Alain Rolland, John Lacey and All Black Glen Jackson – are backs.

There is another obvious problem. The new IRB head of referees, Joel Jutge (who we requested for this interview but were denied) sat before the Six Nations coaches last week to discuss preventative measures of potential hot topics before the tournament commences.

The fierce rivalry between the coaches ensured an obedient but silent audience, especially during the Q A section.

“The coaches didn’t ask a lot of questions because they don’t want to be giving their rivals an edge,” said John Jeffrey, the great Scottish flanker of the 1980s and famous Grand Slam triumph of 1990.