New Zealand were worthy winners. Faster, sharper, more powerful in the contact, and when they played at pace Ireland struggled to contain them. The nuance in their attack, varying the orientation and direction, the ability to boss the collisions on foot of quick ruck ball was a significant factor in the victory for which they were full value.
Now read on as the late Con Houlihan would write. This is not a “coulda, woulda, shoulda” Irish lament or an attempt to deflect from a defeat. It’s an expression of genuine concern for the consistency in officiating.
World Rugby should just put the laws of the game in the bin if Luke Jacobson’s shoulder to the head of Josh van der Flier is a yellow card offence. The New Zealand flanker launched himself off his feet, airborne, with a tucked shoulder, his arm by his side, initially, before it brushes against James Ryan as the Ireland secondrow begins to stand up.
Reaction: New Zealand ease to victory over Ireland
Wrapping would have been more of an afterthought, not a primary action. He tucked his shoulder and his arm was barely impeded by the softish brush against Ryan’s back. He is always illegal in his actions, and if a player is always illegal, that’s more nursery rhyme these days than World Rugby diktat.
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Van der Flier had beaten the New Zealand cleaners “to the shoulder” as it’s referred to, and there was only one way to remove or eject him at that point. Illegally with brutish force.
If Foul Play Review Officer (FPRO) England’s Andrew Jackson thinks Jacobson’s action merits a yellow card, Lord help players and the sport. The knee-jerk reaction these days is to seek mitigation in everything to try and preserve a 15-a-side contest. The tariff for the trade-off is player safety. Is that reasonable?
TMO Ben Whitehouse drew referee Nic Berry’s attention to the incident at a breakdown near the Irish line. After viewing several replays of Jacobson’s actions, Berry in conversation with his fellow arbiters, adjudged it a yellow card with the cross-armed signal for an off-field review and a potential upgrade to a 20-minute red card.
Jackson deliberated and reverted to Berry on his findings. The Australian referee then announced to both captains, Dan Sheehan and Ardie Savea, that it would remain a yellow because “his [Jacobson’s] arm is jammed by the player [Ryan] standing up.”
It’s absolute piffle. Jacobson’s actions are reckless, he’s not in control, his body is like a missile, his feet are in the air as he lunges into contact and he hits van der Flier who immediately grabs his head, if there was any doubt as to the velocity and force of the contact. A desperate and dangerous act.
Berry kicked to touch, as is the practice these days for referees who send foul-play decisions up the line. Why wouldn’t they? Who wants to shoulder a responsibility that can be offloaded? The breakdown was a bone of contention throughout the match, as Berry decreed it a non-contestable zone for the most part.
Jordie Barrett should have been pulled for at least two penalties for legitimate poaches, while Tadhg Beirne spent most of the game forlorn, poised to pilfer but effectively told to keep his hands to himself. There is a southern hemisphere interpretation when it comes to refereeing the breakdown that is more sympathetic to the attacking side – game flow and all that, but play it as you find it though.
Ireland too escaped censure. Sam Prendergast’s outstretched hand that deflected a pass, Jimmy O’Brien’s aerial collision with Reuben Love and repeated infractions in the 22. Another day, they might have been stuck down by the yellow peril.
Tadhg Beirne was at the heart of the game’s other major contention. New Zealand centre Quinn Tupaea’s diving one-handed attempted intercept of Bundee Aki’s pass, initially passed muster. Berry described it as a legitimate attempt. TMO Whitehouse intervened. Berry had a damascene conversion.
The Australian whistler awarded a penalty. If Tupaea hadn’t illegally intervened, the ball would have gone to Beirne, who had a gaping hole to scoot through. Berry said there was a defender; there was in a different postcode, but also there were other Irish attackers in the picture.
It was so obviously a yellow card for preventing a line-break that there was almost a comedic element to the penalty-only ruling. Berry had the benefit of several replays. This wasn’t a decision based on a one-off, real-time, viewing of the incident.
It wasn’t just the Auckland match. Angus Gardner manfully tried to keep a lid on a simmering tension in England’s 31-24 victory over Argentina. He issued seven yellow cards.
Yet at the end of the game, he first ruled out a high tackle – it was a seat belt offence – and then his interaction with TMO Brett Cronan in erasing Bautista Delguy’s try, having given the score on-field, incensed the home players who had to be shooed away from the officials at the final whistle.
World Rugby took Italy head coach Gonzalo Quesada to task and gave him a ban for criticising match officials. There is an accepted way and means of raising issues. The Jacobson incident, citing or not, will be instructive.
