Watson: extended TMO improving
André Watson, the man who runs South African referees, has discussed the extended use of the television match official and is optimistic about its future.
He said: “It’s a brilliant concept and after six weeks’ use in the Currie Cup things are improving. But execution at the moment is not yet accurate enough.”
He says that the start was poor with referees referring all sorts of decisions to the TMO. He said: “It’s like being asked to sweep the floor but not taking too much care because you know the real sweeper is coming behind and he will get the floor clean.”
We went on to say: “At that rate we would have developed brilliant TMOs but average referees and assistant referees. We need to have excellent referees who can make the difficult calls on the park.”
This is now changing. His instruction to referees is that they refer law rulings to the TMO only when they are in doubt about the legality of the try and that they refer foul play only when they have seen foul play but need more detail or the identification of a guilty party.
