VIDEO: Jake White opens up about the new scourge on the game
SPOTLIGHT: World Rugby will have to revisit the decision to allow referees to arbitrarily decide when water breaks should be in the game.
Italian referee Andrea Piardi is in the firing line after his handling of the Bulls’ 28-14 United Rugby Championship win over Irish province Connacht at Loftus Versfeld this past Friday – which saw the match run for close to two hours.
There was a rash of TMO referrals and injury stoppages, but the one issue that mostly grated Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White was the arbitrary nature of Piardi’s water break decisions.
The one-minute stoppages were introduced in various competitions this year, including the URC, with two intervals per half slated for the URC.
Piardi’s decisions on the water breaks bordered on becoming farcical.
“One area that I do think we need to look at is these water breaks,” White told a post-match media briefing.
“I’m not quite sure whether these water breaks – at different times of the game, decided by the match officials – are working.”
White admitted that he has not discussed it with any opposing teams and do not know their views on the subject.
“I generally think it’s not helping, because you never know when the water break’s coming.
“It could come at a really important time of the game. It could come when you are building pressure.
“So, I think we’ve got to relook at these water breaks.
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White suggested set times, like 20-minute intervals, which will allow for better rhythm and planning in the game.
“I don’t think the game is getting the shape that it could have.”
White said the issues have nothing to do with the weather.
“I don’t think it’s really because it is hot,” White said, adding: “I just think it is done [arbitrarily].
“This game was not going to be hotter than any other game we have played before.
“What they need to decide, they need to set a time [for these breaks to take place].
“You can’t have the referee [decide it]. He is worried about so many other things and then he decides: ‘Water break!’.
“I don’t understand what the logic is when it comes to calling those intervals.”0
The Bulls boss suggested match officials open themselves up to scrutiny.
“[For example], if they call a break with one team starting to get into the game or has a great opportunity, you take away that momentum.
“They’re opening themselves for discussions on that.
“We had half-time, then straight after that we kick the ball down the field. They [Connacht] dot down and a second later their No.3 prop is getting attention. That’s fine because maybe that guy really needs it.
“But then we call the water break a few minutes later.
“It’s a domino effect of what happens in those 10 to 15 minutes that influences the rhythm of both teams.”
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