Honiss travels hopefully
On Saturday Australia play South Africa at Telstra Stadium in Sydney. Both teams still have a chance to win the Tri-Nations, there are important Australian farewells and the world’s most experienced referee to referee the match – Paul Honiss of Hamilton in the Waikato.
In 1994 the Springboks had battled to beat Taranaki in New Plymouth, and the referees of the day were kind to me. We sat at dinner with me next to Murray Dombroski, who has meant so much to many New Zealanders. He pointed a serious young touch judge out to me and said: “He will be a great referee one day.”
His pupil referee was Paul Honiss and on Saturday he will referee his 41st Test match – more than any other current referee in the world has refereed, more than any other New Zealander has refereed, just two behind the record number of Tests ever refereed – 43 by Derek Bevan of Wales. Paul Honiss, who attends his third World Cup this year, is set to equal Bevan’s record in the World Cup Pool matches, for he is appointed to referee South Africa vs Samoa and then, on 25 September, Romania vs Portugal.
Paul Honiss is experienced! He will have that experience in his bag as he flies up to Sydney on Thursday in the expectation of a great match on Saturday.
We spoke to him and asked him questions.
How many tests now?
Paul Honiss: This is my 41st test match but just as important as my first test.
The one thing I dislike about the professional game is that we do not get to wear our country colours any more. I have nothing against corporate sponsors, but I would like to think that we can wear our national colours just as the players do. Why are we treated differently from them?
What is your Tri-Nations experience?
Paul Honiss: I had my first taste of Tri-Nations rugby back in 2000, and since then I have refereed a further two matches, with this one being my fourth. They are always special matches for Southern Hemisphere referees, particularly in a year when the number of games is reduced because of World Cup commitments – but we won’t get into that debate about resting players, etc!
How does Super 14 help in the run-up to the Tri-Nations – standard, knowing the players, etc?
Paul Honiss: Yes, being involved in Super 14 rugby does help. It is always a little bit more difficult going up to the UK to referee tests when we have not been involved in the competitions they run up there, but we are always well catered for with warm-up games which does assist in getting used to conditions and playing attitudes. We are very fortunate that our playing conditions in the southern hemisphere do cater for more expansive styles of rugby versus the wet, cold conditions that prevail in the months of January and February when we are expected to be involved in Six Nations, etc.
Are you disappointed that the Springboks have a weakened team?
Paul Honiss: I haven’t yet been involved in a Springbok side that wants to lie down and let the opposition run all over them. Jake has a great deal of pride associated with the Springbok jersey and I know that all 22 players will be prepared to give the Wallabies one hell of a match on Saturday night – and I’m looking forward to that challenge. On any given day either team can beat the other as has been proven by the results to date. Saturday night will be no different!
You have experienced referees on the line – Steve Walsh and Kelvin Deaker. How much do you rely on your touch judges? What do you hope from them apart from their obvious duties – off-side? Skew throws into line-outs, scrum collapses? That sort of thing.
Paul Honiss: I’m one on those referees who doesn’t referee a match relying on the touch judges to help out all the time. If I get a lot of information from my TJ’s I begin to ask myself “Why am I missing these things”? Generally I see some communication as a negative because it is telling me that I am in a bad position, or I have been too slow around the field to be in the right place at the right time – I sort of use it as a means to make myself work harder and be more conscious of what is happening around me.
I certainly use them for housekeeping matters like skew throws etc where the referee is concentrating on far more important things like obstruction, barging, etc. The touch judges can be very helpful if a scrum has collapsed on the far side to the referee, and this means that they can offer very credible information for the referee in his decision-making process.
There has been a lot of talk about scrums. Does that bother you?
Paul Honiss: Yes, there has been a lot of ‘wind’ about scrums and who does what, but that is nothing different from any other test match. At the moment every country thinks they have an edge over the opponents!
I will do nothing different on Saturday, i.e. expect the players to achieve minimum standards in terms of the set-up, engagement and completion of awarded scrums. Player attitude will play a big part, because despite my experience at the international level of the game, I am yet to physically collapse a scrum – yet the referee seems to always get blamed for the scrums collapsing!
Paul, we can talk about RWC later, but this must be a help in getting ready for the World Cup. Have you anything else before then?
Paul Honiss: This is my last test before RWC 2007, but I will be refereeing in the first four rounds of the Air New Zealand Cup back in NZ before departing for France. I will be preparing for this one as if it is a RWC match, and having just performed really well at the pre-RWC fitness testing session, I am physically really good and so the remainder of this week is just getting the mind “in the zone” come kick-off time on Saturday night. It should be a great occasion and I am looking forward to seeing two very positive teams do battle in the middle for 80 minutes.
