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Do Australian Teams Get TMO Decisions? 21 views 7 Comments
18 May 2013 by The Swede Eaters

Another TMO decision has decided a Super Rugby match. Is it my imagination, or do the Australian teams get good TMO decisions going their way? Should there be neutral TMOs?

Is it my imagination or do the Australian teams get better TMO decisions?

Tonight, I saw the Rebels awarded a penalty try after the Rebels looked like they lost the ball forward at a ruck and then captain Scott Higginbotham looked to hit the ball forward out of the hands of a Stormers player before reserve halfback Nick Phipps was held back and they were awarded the winning penalty try, whilst the Stormers hooker was given a yellow card. It is hard to know for sure if a try would have been scored. I felt bad for the Stormers!

A knock-on occurs when a player loses possession of the ball and it goes forward, or when a player hits the ball forward with the hand or arm, or when the ball hits the hand or arm and goes forward, and the ball touches the ground or another player before the original player can catch it.
‘Forward’ means towards the opposing team’s dead ball line.

http://www.irblaws.com/index.php?law=12

There have also been other times this season when Australian teams have received generous decisions. The video at the top of this post shows how the Rebels were gifted two tries from forward passes, while the Chiefs had a try disallowed which was eventually overturned by referees boss Lyndon Bray four days later, but that was a bit too late!

Hosea Gear for the Highlanders had what looked like a try just before halftime disallowed against the Brumbies, while Luke Romano had two tries disallowed when the mighty Crusaders lost to the Force.

This Francis Saili try against the Rebels was an interesting one, because Saili lost the Rene Ranger pass forward but kicked it before it touched the ground. I know traditionally this is considered a knock-on, but according to the law above there is no mention of kicking the ball after losing it forward, before it touches the ground.

These decisions are changing the results of many Super Rugby matches and I think they should have neutral referees. There seem to be too many important TMO decisions conveniently made by a TMO from the same country as the attacking team.

Do Australian teams get better TMO decisions or does it just seem like it?

http://www.superrugbytips.com/2013/05/do-australian-teams-get-better-tmo.html

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Tags: Super Rugby

Comments (7)

Rating:

	7 . Bulpil 19 May 2013 10:19 PM Am aware of most of the strange decisions you mentioned. One could rightfully start to wonder about TMO's and their ability to see what they see. The Super Bullfrog input is also something I have noticed. Chrisdreamteam also put the specific decision in perspective. Very difficult to decide, if you were on the fly without TMO. But then, why all the shocking decisions when the TMO can review all available material at leasure? Yesterday evening with the Bulls against the Highlanders - two decisions, two wrongs. Steve Walsh has a whole Wiki page dedicated to him. All his misdemeanours listed, including how many times he swore at players. After he left Australian refereeing his quality of work improved markedly. However, this is becoming a less of a good year for him. Already rebuked by Bray about TMO misuse. Then the mysterious fine to the Stormers because of swearing at the officials. Two things stood out in that match, some shocking decisions and Steve Walsh (the original swearer). What happened? Nobody is allowed to know. Even more shocking. Then the past of Aussie reffing is full of interesting characters, like Ayob, etc. Quality refs seems to be like rain in the Outback. To conclude - a lot of bad decisions are made by TMO's lately. Whether incompetence or bias or result engineering is happening we don't know. I know about your examples and I also know about some others. Maybe the rules are too difficult. Everything is aimed at making the game faster. Complicated rules don't go with that.
	6 . deep 19 May 2013 04:28 PM Try disallowed, collapsed scrums not penalised, Ellis allowed to pick-pocket, entire Curaders squad advising the ref, and other close calls at critical times fairly consistently going to the men in red. To beat the Crusaders at home you need to score an additional 15 points, and to beat them away an additional 5 - tough work against the quality side they are. But then maybe I'm just a one-eyed Blues supporter!
	5 . chrisdreamteam 18 May 2013 05:37 PM Just something funny on deeps comment i remember last year highlanders playing against crusaders and a tacle desicion on carter going against the highlanders. I can not remember if it was the right call but the refs mic was on and you could clearly hear adrew hore asking the ref " so you are telling me nobody is allowed to tackle mr carter in the game of rugby" It was the best chirp i have ever heard on a field. Does this mean other teams in nz also think crusaders sometimes get favoured. I would like to hear from the nz guys.
	4 . chrisdreamteam 18 May 2013 05:30 PM Read the article in sa referees" brilliant " i also thought it was a wrong call until i read the article. They say it was the right call because the protocol in the rule does not allow the assistant to look at the knock on. The protocol for looking two phases back for anything "missed" can only be asked for when a try has been scored which in this case did not happen. That means the tmo could only rule on the foul play and nothing before that. They also say that it may be an option to change the protocol to incorporate more situations than just a try. I support stormers and do feel hard done by, but the refs did apply the options they have according to the rules correctly
	3 . deep 18 May 2013 01:18 PM I'm fine with the penalty try. Phipps was clearly and deliberately held back in a situation that he most likely would have otherwise scored. The lead-up 'knock-on' was marginal, but it seems this year that a knock-on is defined by the ball carrier, not someone else knocking the ball loose. There have been numerous times the ball carrier has lost the ball forward due to good defense stripping it, and invariable is it called a knock on by the ref, not a strip. Can't say I've noticed the Ozzy favouritism, probably because I'm too distracted with being annoyed at the Crusaders favouritism!
	2 . HarryWade 18 May 2013 03:08 AM I think if something keeps happening (which seems to be the case) then it has to be looked into. Neutral referees could end this talk of bias but probably won't end all the dodgy decisions. All the decisions mentioned above were incorrect In my opinion and this means too many wrong decisions are being made. Here is what the SA media have to say: http://mobi.supersport.com/rugby/super-rugby/news/130517/Stormers_lose_to_Aussie_shocker. Needless to say they are claiming bias against SA!You can decide for yourself on that one but that should never have been a penalty try.
	1 . Super Bullfrogs 18 May 2013 12:27 AM I find amusing that whenever an Australian team is involved in something referred to the TMO (matches in Australia), the matter is treated in two different ways - if it is for something against another team or in favour of the Australian team, the replays and slow motion pictures from Australian TV analyses and commentators' comments are from all different angles and howmany times, in detail. If the issue is against Australian team or in favour of another team, you normally get one or two replays and the commentators and TMO most times conclude against the non-Australian team. This does not happen in New Zealand, nor in South Africa.

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