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NZ Rugby to blame for blunder ref
Jim Kayes in Marseilles | September 13, 2007 - 8:43AM
Paul Honiss' blunder during Samoa's loss to South Africa in the first round of the World Cup can be blamed on a policy decision made in New Zealand.
Honiss, after consulting touch judge and fellow New Zealander Lyndon Bray, refused to award Samoa a second-half try to Joe Tekori, ruling he was off-side at a ruck.
Tekori was not bound to the ruck, was behind the ball and did not use any player as a screen in his burst to the line.
In similar instances in New Zealand those tries were being allowed, with Auckland's Bradley Mika a dab hand at them, while Ross Filipo also scored in that manner for the Crusaders against the Hurricanes.
Honiss was the referee in Christchurch that night and the Hurricanes were incensed by his performance, especially in the latitude they felt he allowed Richie McCaw.
A meeting was held between coach Hurricanes Colin Cooper and the New Zealand Rugby Union's referees boss, Keith Lawrence, where Cooper aired his concerns.
Among them was the legality of the Filipo try.
It is understood a decision was made that such tries were illegal, a stance the IRB disagrees with but Honiss' decision was in line with how such incidents are now ruled in New Zealand.
He also erred in not sending Springbok flanker Schalk Burger to the sinbin for a high tackle on halfback Steven So'oialo as the citing of Burger shows.
IRB referees boss Paddy O'Brien would not comment on Honiss' performance except to say that all referees were reviewed after each game.
"The selectors will take all performances in to account when determining who will referee the quarter finals. The decisions will be made on form and neutrality."
The selectors are former referees Bob Francis [New Zealand], Tappe Henning [South Africa], Michel Lamoulie [France ], David Pickering [Wales] and Stephen Hilditch [Ireland], and former Wales coach Kevin Bowring.
The appointments have been made for the pool games with a group of 12 referees, from seven countries, controlling the games, with another group of 13 acting as touch judges.
The touch judges leave the World Cup after the pool games with the referee's panel used as the referee, touch judges and video referee for the playoffs.
Three referees performed well in the first round New Zealand's Steve Walsh, England's Warne Barnes, and Ireland 's Alain Rolland.
Walsh refereed Scotland's match against Portugal, while Barnes was in charge when New Zealand thrashed Italy and Rolland controlled Wales in their win against Canada.
Behind them were France's Joel Jutge, South Africa's Jonathan Kaplan, and Ireland's Alan Lewis.
Walsh was suspended for a game at the 2003 World Cup after a sideline altercation with England official Dave Reddin, but has a chance to redeem himself in France.
He will referee Wales against Australia in Cardiff on September 15 and Georgia against Namibia in Lens 11 days later. If he performs well, he should get a quarterfinal.
Honiss will control the lightweight game between Romania and Portugal in Toulouse on September 25, but his hopes of getting a quarter final match will rest on his performance in the crunch pool D game between Ireland and Argentina in Paris on September 30.
Fairfax Media