Players, refs accept joint responsibility
SANZAR coaches and referees have accepted joint responsibility at the tackle and the scrums in order to produce a faster, more attractive game.....
SANZAR is attempting to correct faults in a transparent way. The two aspects especially under the spotlight at-re the tackle and the scrum. More specifically at the tackle there is the tackler's obligation to release the tackled play - break his contact with him before playing the ball - when he is on his feet.
SANZAR now has a referees' manager - Lyndon Bray of New Zealand, recently a Test and Super rugby referee. He will be in charge of seeing to consistency in application of the law and compliance with it. The first responsibility will rest with the players to comply.
This is not new but an application of law that exists........
Referees who get their application of the law wrong in Super 14 will be told of their problem and the matter could be made public. In fact the buck will stop with the men who select and appoint referees to Super 14 matches - Andrew Cole (Australia), Colin Hawke (New Zealand) and Tappe Henning (South Africa), who is also an IRB referees' selector.
Talking of the tackle, Bray said: "We've agreed philosophically to change what a tackler can and can't do. He's doing too much. In the evolution of the game we've allowed him to remain in contact with the ball and the ball-carrier after he leaves his feet and he stays on the ball and jumps up and rips it away.
"It looks great in a one-on-one scenario, but it's actually against the law. It creates in the game a repetitive scenario where the ball-carrier ends up with no rights because he can't do anything with the ball.
"The tackler inevitably gets the penalty which philosophically goes against what we are trying to achieve. We've agreed the tackler must release everything when he goes to ground and not hold on as he gets to his feet."
Then there is to be emphasis on scrumming within law in an attempt to reduce the resets of scrum which take up to 16% of playing time. SANZAR has appointed three scrum coaches in each of the three countries - Pat Noriega (Australia), Mike Cron (New Zealand) and Balie Swart (South Africa).
If a player in a team is presenting scrum problems, the coach will inform the team. If the problem persists SANZAR has the right and the permission from its teams to go public - let the other teams and the media know.
Full article
Referees and their headbands
I don't know how this will go, but it would make sportears look pretty sick :)
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Referees and their headbands
Those who have been to Newlands for the two matches in the tri-series will have seen the referees, Jonathan Kaplan and Mark Lawrence, wearing bands around their heads, needing only a feather to look like Redskin braves.
This is part of an experiment. Attached to the band on the side is a camera. The camera faces forward and so sees what the referee sees.
This is recorded in a hard drive on the referee's back, which can be downloaded for assessment purposes of the referee's performance.
It is at the moment only in a trial stage. It is likely that the attachment will change in position and shape to make it less obtrusive.
The use of the camera is seen as a training tool and could be used for simulated refereeing in the training of referees - where the referee sits watching a "match" on a screen and then makes his decisions, all of which can be monitored and tested.
There is also the possible use in a split screen, as occurs in grand prix racing. The TV viewer would then see the match and have the option of seeing a decision from the referee's viewpoint. This could well surprise some people, for sometimes the referee sees more than the viewer sees, sometimes not as much. This could make the referee's job and decisions more credible.
Clearly, this is in an experimental stage and will undergo changes and adaptations if and when it is to be more broadly used.
http://www.rugby365.com/laws_referees/home/2189501.htm