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JUSTIN MARSHALL
OPINION: Here's the good news . . . New Zealand has two outstanding title contenders in the Super Rugby playoffs, the Chiefs and Crusaders, either of whom are capable of bringing the championship home.
And the bad? The ongoing TMO fiasco.
If you're a Chiefs fan, you must feel like the officials have it in for you for some bizarre reason. If you're a neutral observer, you can only feel pity for Dave Rennie's men and concern that such inept processes around logical technological assistance are creating unnecessary anger and negative comment in our game.
It wasn't just the Dane Coles try on Friday night that provoked such emotions or the Ellis try a week earlier in Hamilton. There were two more examples on Saturday night where the Force can justifiably feel miffed at the handling of their fate by the TMO and match referee.
I don't know whether to be perplexed or bemused over the failure between the pair to get it right. To me, it's simple.
Refs and TMOs should follow the first rule of logic like most of the rest of us when we see "tries" that may, or may not, be. Most times, the first instinct of what we see is invariably the right call.
But it seems to me that the more a TMO replays an incident, the more likely he is to come up with a decision that confounds what most of us have seen (and I refer here mostly to the Coles “try” against the Chiefs).
It's almost as if each replay further induces a desire to find justification to give the try. In some cases, like Israel Dagg's “try” against the Force, the TMO seems to almost develop a mindset of: "I know he has lost control of the ball in scoring but did he get downward pressure at one stage".
No, he lost control, no try! In my view, we need to cut down on the amount of replays required to make the call and have one look only at every TV angle then decide.
Unfortunately, that's not the only problem with this mess.
Go back to the Ellis decision against the Force. We all know that he was short of the line. Most of us believed it shouldn't have been awarded as a try and even the player himself smiled and shrugged almost in disbelief when it was awarded! But here's where I have some sympathy with Vinny Munro, the TMO on the night.
Referee Glen Jackson said to him: "We think we have seen a grounding, give me a reason not to award a try."
What Jackson didn't realise was he saw a grounding but that was after Ellis being initially short so Munro was unable to disagree with him because of the question. In this case, the grounding was fine. It was what happened before Ellis got to the line that he should have been asked about as well.
There's a simple solution. If a ref isn't sure and wants to go to the TMO, he simply asks "try, or no-try?". Forget the request for a double movement, ‘was-he-in-touch', ‘was-that-last-pass-forward', ‘did-they-knock-it-on?'. It's one simple question. Then all that remains is for the referee, if he has seen a try, to make that decision himself. Back yourself to make the call - you're the closest person to the action.
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And, please Mr TMO, when you are asked that question, go with what you first see and don't look for a miracle to spare the rest of us the pain, cringing and utter disbelief that you can get it so consistently wrong.
The natural question that falls out of the TMO dramas is how much impact will it have on the Chiefs ahead of the playoffs?
In my opinion, zero. I already have enough faith in the championship credentials of the Crusaders (back to them in a moment). The Chiefs may not have the same playoffs pedigree but this year's model is a formidable new beast.
There will be no brooding over what has happened to them the past fortnight.
They will be elated - and rightly so - at their feat of topping a hugely competitive New Zealand conference, gratified to be still playing while others aren't, and fiercely focused to grasp their opportunity.
Form leading in - and any setbacks such as TMO calls - becomes irrelevant.
I know that mindset because I was in many Crusaders teams that had it when it came to this time of the season.
It's why I have confidence the Crusaders are - to every centimetre - definite championship material.
Yes, there have been times this year where they have lost their rhythm and looked average. Then there's been occasions where they have ruthlessly crushed the opposition with such pace and intensity that they have held us all in awe wondering how they could possibly be beaten.
They've even done that twice for the full 80 minutes. The problem is that it hasn't been often enough to ease the doubters' claims they are too inconsistent to win the title.
That ability to slip into the playoffs mental mode I described will change all that.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/o...bys-TMO-fiasco
I can't believe I actually agree with Justin on this one, simple - try or no try
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Originally Posted by AndyS
