Referees becoming the game's key figures

ON RUGBY:The IRB must try to simplify the laws of the game if they wish them to be interpreted with the required consistency by referees

SARACENS DIRECTOR of Rugby Brendan Venter’s decision to speak out about the standard of refereeing has commandeered many of the headlines over here and his thoughts will earn him a trip to RFU headquarters in England to explain his comments.

He was prompted to complain in the wake of Saracens defeat to the Leicester Tigers and specifically a penalty count that broke 9-3 in favour of the London club in the first half but was then appreciably reversed 10-4 in the Tigers’ favour after the interval. His comments were more wide-ranging than that match alone, alighting on the general standards of officiating.

He is not alone in seeking explanations from referees. Our own coach Toby Booth looked for a clarification after a couple of incidents in the Northampton game. We drove the Saints back five yards at a scrum but when it was reset, they retained the put-in. Another time Steffon Armitage was lifted off his feet yet he was penalised.

From the players’ perspective officiating has become a bigger topic than ever this season. Referees must operate under some new laws and each individual seems to have their own peccadilloes, hot, so to speak, on one particular area.

One referee might rigorously police the tackle area, be strict about players releasing, rolling away and getting to their feet, while another might be preoccupied with hands in the ruck. It is hard not to feel sympathy at times. As I said in a previous column, the IRB must try and simplify the laws if they wish them to be interpreted uniformly.

It has got to the stage where teams will try not to play too much in the first 20 minutes of a match to establish how certain areas of the game are being officiated that day. Every single club, provincial and international team profiles each referee down to not only how he officiates in terms of likes and dislikes but the key phrases he uses to communicate to players.

The referee is becoming more and more important to the outcome of matches. No one expects him to get everything right – there isn’t a player on the pitch who is blemish- free – but the main bugbear for players and coaches is inconsistency.

A referee also has the power to get a player dropped on the basis of conceding several penalties in a game; those shortcomings won’t endear anyone to a coach. The rights and wrongs of the situation don’t matter because the ultimate arbiter of fact on the day is the official. He carries a massive responsibility.

If you examine the role of an openside flanker, who spends his afternoon trying to poach or slow down possession; if he falls foul of a referee he ends up as a liability to his team. The scrum is another classic illustration of how one person’s interpretation can have a disproportionate effect both on a match and a player’s standing.

As captain, I would obviously regularly communicate with a referee during a match but I have found that some officials put a limit on how often they will explain themselves that decreases as the game progresses. I can’t tell my team to stop offending if I don’t know what the offence is and that can be frustrating.

I’m not a big fan of referees addressing team captains by their Christian names. I call a referee, sir, and am summoned by the word, captain. There is a human dynamic to that relationship that can come down to things like tone of voice.

Establishing a rapport is important not just in a single game but over a season or seasons.

The role of the touch judge must also be examined. He’s there to help the referee ensure the smooth flow of a game. More often than not though, his intervention is limited to one usually pivotal cameo.

No one wants to witness a poor spectacle. It is the responsibility of players, coaches, officials and those presiding over the sport to try and ensure the focus is on the game and not the referee. My old coach Matt Williams used to advocate the need to “control the controllables”, and that didn’t include the weather or the referee.

The heavy snow has wreaked havoc with the fixture list and will have serious implications for all the Guinness Premiership windows. There aren’t any spare weekends so matches will have to be rescheduled for midweek dates. It will put a massive emphasis on the strength in depth of squads.

Little did I know that my favourite soccer team, Liverpool, would cause our Heineken Cup pool match against Leinster to be moved from the Madejski stadium to Twickenham. The FA Cup replay between Reading and Liverpool and the theory that our landlords could progress and would then be down to play the next round at home on the same day of the Leinster game prompted our switch to Twickenham.

As a team, we would have preferred to play in the more intimate surroundings of the Madejski but for the supporters it ensures that more fans can be accommodated. On the basis of the number of requests for tickets I have been getting, there should be quite an attendance.

The fact that Leinster have an extra day’s recovery – they play next Saturday against Brive while we travel to the Scarlets on Sunday – will have a bearing on how the teams prepare for that final pool match.

I managed to fit in an errand of mercy this week when collecting Dave Quinlan and his wife, newly returned from the 40 degree heat of their South African honeymoon to the blizzards of Heathrow. On returning Dave found his car wouldn’t start and that the heating had broken in his house.

Speaking of mercy or the lack thereof, Toby Booth decided that following a weights session, we would have a backs versus forwards snowball fight; the forwards won 3-0. Two bibs were stuck on poles at either end of the pitch. It was essentially bulldog’s charge with snowballs.

The forwards prepared carefully, breaking into three units: attack, defence and special teams. Nick Kennedy fetched a bucket of water so that we could ice our snowballs to give them that little extra kick. What struck me most was the fact that when a back was isolated none of his buddies made an effort to rescue him.

It made for some very brutal scenes. Chris Malone probably still hasn’t got the snow out of every orifice. Ryan Lamb thought he had made the sanctuary of the dressingroom only to be kidnapped, stripped and turned into a snowman. Peter Richards actually ran into a nearby house to try and escape. I don’t think the backs will be looking for a rematch.