Refs told: Consistency is the word
At the annual IRB High Performance Referees meeting at the Lensbury Club in South London on Monday, attended by the world’s top referees and referee managers, the emphasis was – again – on consistency as momentum builds towards Rugby World Cup 2011 in New Zealand.
Under the central theme of global and consistent performance, the meeting provided an opportunity to consider refereeing best practice and review performance in key areas of the Game, especially the five key areas identified in November 2009:
a) offside at the ruck
b) offside from kicks
c) illegal maul formation causing obstruction
d) scrum engagement sequence
e) accuracy of application of the tackle Law
The IRB’s manger of referees Paddy O’Brien reiterated the importance of continued consistent and universal application of Law in these five key areas,. He said: “The annual High Performance Referees meeting is a key element of the referee feedback and training process and enables us to review performances as a team, assess fitness objectives, consider the latest trends in the Game and reiterate the key focus areas to ensure consistency.
“Referees and the world’s top coaches have bought into the obligation to penalise clear and obvious offences in the five areas that are our top priority. Collectively we are committed to promoting global consistency of the application of Law at Test and national competition level as we build to Rugby World Cup 2011.”
The scrum continues to be a major focus area and the IRB’s high performance referees were reminded of their obligation to take charge of the scrum sequence and to ensure strict and consistent application of all aspects of scrum Law.
O’Brien said: “The 2010 Tri-Nations saw a 40% decrease in the number of scrum resets compared to the 2010 June Tier 1 Tests; so this area of the Game is improving. The coaches have all expressed their support of the referee leading the crouch, touch, pause, engage scrum sequence and sanctioning players who fail to follow the calling of the engagement procedure, particularly early engagement. The message to the referees is clear. We require greater consistency at the elite level and compliance is critical in this key area of the Game.”
At the IRB Junior World Championship 2010 in Argentina there was an 84% scrum completion rate across the 40 matches. This was achieved by consistent refereeing performance following buy-in to the directives by the competing coaches.
IRB Game Analysis highlights that the 2010 Tri-Nations saw a 50% reduction on scrum collapses compared to the 2010 Six Nations and a 40% reduction on the 2010 June Tier 1 Tests.
