IRB looks to give TMO a greater say

[Flamethrower]

IRB looks to give TMO a greater say
By GREG FORD - Sunday Star Times | Sunday, 17 February 2008
IRB looks to give TMO a greater say - Rugby news & coverage - Stuff.co.nz


Bad rugby refereeing decisions could soon be a thing of the past. The game's governing body, the International Rugby Board, is poised to overhaul the powers of the TV match official.

Before you smell a rat, Wayne Barnes' clanger during the Rugby World Cup in Cardiff, when he missed a vital forward pass, is not behind the review.

IRB chief executive Mike Miller said it was an attempt to keep pace with technology and other sports which are utilising it to assist match controllers.

"No, Barnes' call has nothing to do with it," he told the Sunday Star-Times.

"This has actually been on our radar for some time and we started talking about what needs to be done at the beginning of last year. Things have moved on a little since then."

The IRB's powerful rugby committee has been asked to lead the process, which will no doubt be contentious. Technology and sport have been uncomfortable bed fellows in several other codes.

Miller confirmed the IRB would review what other sports do to see if their approach could be adapted to rugby, taking a special interest in American football's NFL.

The NFL has flirted with technology in several guises over the past decade, at one stage adopting a cart blanche approach where replays were used in just about every facet of the play. Fans, coaches and players hated it. It slowed down an already slow game too much. The NFL eventually overturned the move, offering coaches the opportunity to challenge contentious calls, much the same way as in tennis.

Miller said this approach may be the best in rugby.

"We don't want to slow the game down so we need to strike a balance," he said.

"There's also the question of how far back we go. Do we disallow a try if there has been an infringement 10 phases before it's scored?

"At the moment the touch judge can step in but the video referee can't. So do we allow the video ref to be more proactive and allow that person to contact the on-field referee while the action is unfolding if he has missed something?"

Rugby's key power brokers gather in Dublin in May for an IRB council meeting and will decide then whether the video ref's powers should be beefed up.

Miller and newly-elected IRB chairman Bernard Lapasset touched down in New Zealand on Friday. This week they will check on New Zealand's progress towards hosting the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

They will also hold an IRB executive board meeting on our shores. Miller said he did not share the sense of general anxiety felt in New Zealand in relation to Eden Park, which is due to host the final in four years.

Many people think the ground, even when revamped, won't be up to scratch because of its location. Miller said New Zealand was making good progress towards hosting the cup.

[JediKnight]

But who's going to check up on the dodgy TMO decisions that continue to be a blight on the game?

[James]

I remember seeing footage of Steve Walsh (who is probably my favourite ref) asking about the grounding of a ball during a match. The TMO said it went out but tried to give him advice about a bit of foul play (I think) by the team who didn't score and he said he couldn't use that advice because it didn't happen in goal and it wasn't about the grounding of the ball. Walsh was following the rules but its impossible for him to see everything and giving the TMO more responsibility has to be generally a good thing. Only if it isn't over used.

[GIGS20]

Yeah but I'm with Jedi here....which match was it this weekend, where a pack of players crashed over the line and the ref said 'I think a try has been scored, can you give me any reason not to award the try' The footage of the ball (on the defending player's leg or something was replayed a couple of times from a couple of angles, and the TMO said to allow the try.......later in the game, Fox replayed the action from an overhead angle and the ball could be clearly seen on the top of two or three players for the whole movement. That shot was not used and would have been conclusive. if you're going to use it, you need to be sure it's going to be right!

[tic]

^^^^ Sour grapes GIGS20 - the Reds got the lollies and deserved the win. Get over it.

[GIGS20]

Was that a Reds try?

I couldn't remember....maybe that explains it, If it had've been scored by a team who know how to score tries, the shock would've made it more memorable I'm sure!

[beige]

I hope they don't overdo it - in fact the NRL is already talking about going the other way. I tend to agree with them as I've seen legitimate tries disallowed in the NRL because the TMO spotted something illegal in back play, even though it had no bearing on the try being scored...

[TOCC]

yeah im sick of how much the NRL referees use the TMO, its around 80% of tries these days in the NRL used the TMO to make sure, and then they take 2 minutes to decide.

If the IRB does want more involvement from the IRB they should also set a limit on how long it takes him to make a decision.

[BLR]

Just have a line going to the ref that the vid ref can tell the ref if something happened...

[beige]

I think that's actually what's causing a lot of the problems in the NRL...

[The InnFORCEr]

Just have a line going to the ref that the vid ref can tell the ref if something happened...

as long as they don't get water in the system like at Jade on Friday and the ref has to go a grab some head phones from the sideline to find out what is going on.