Former All Black coach Laurie Mains has not been happy with the standard of refereeing at the Rugby World Cup.
“I’ve been appalled by the refereeing, especially how they have decided games with scrum penalties,” Mains said.
“Games have been won and lost from scrum penalties when the wrong decision was made. You should not have a situation in rugby where games are won and lost by the referee’s guess,” he said.
Referees had decided the outcome of games by wrong decisions.
“A lot of times when penalties were awarded, I couldn’t tell who was at fault. There was no way that the referee knew. It should have been a reset scrum.”
Mains, the last coach to take New Zealand to a World Cup final in 1995, said the All Blacks did not extend themselves during pool games.
“We saw 20 minutes of very good rugby against France,” Mains said.
“But they stepped it up against Australia with a lot of commitment. There was no way they were going to let that game go.”
He was impressed by the tactics used in the semifinal.
“They exposed and exploited the weakness in the Australian team in the tight five and Quade Cooper. ”
Mains is confident the All Blacks will beat France because there are enough players who have been through it before.
“They will have slightly different tactics,” he said. “But they shouldn’t change the way they prepare.”
Mains does not think the French team is good enough to give the All Blacks a serious challenge.
“They don’t have the world-class attacking players we have seen in the past. If the All Black team is on song I don’t see how France can come within 20 points of them. They are not the second-best team in this competition.”
Mains said coach Graham Henry was not going to repeat the mistakes made in 2007. That was vindication of the reappointment of the same coaching panel.
He rated blindside flanker Jerome Kaino as the best and most consistent All Black at the World Cup.
“It’s hard to pick out other individuals because it’s been a darn good team effort.”
The other teams to impress Mains were Wales and South Africa, teams he thought were taken out of the tournament by bad refereeing decisions.
“I would have felt a lot better about winning the World Cup if Wales or South Africa had been the other team in the final,” Mains said.
“They would have been worthy opponents for the All Blacks.”
By Alistair McMurran of The Otago Daily Times
Dan Carter wanted nothing to do with the World Cup in the immediate aftermath of his tournament-ending groin injury.
It took almost a week before the All Blacks first-five, considered one of the best players in the world, could face up to the global rugby showpiece going on around him. But he was glad he finally did.
“Yeah I guess anger did creep in a little bit,” Carter said today. “I was just so gutted and didn’t want anything to do with the World Cup. And then it hit me after five or six days and I realized the World Cup is here in my home country and I’m going to make the most of it like everyone else and actually get to some games.
“I wasn’t going to get to any games, I dropped my lip a bit. I decided to get to the games and enjoy the atmosphere and it’s been quite different for me. I’ve loved every minute of it – the people who have come into New Zealand for the World Cup and also the New Zealanders who have got right in behind it. I’ve really enjoyed that side of things and also continuing to work with the team has been great.
“It’s a very exciting situation that we’re in – a final against France, our arch-nemesis at World Cup time.
Former All Black captain, Wayne “Buck” Shelford is at it again, this time lashing out at the IRB for their handling of the rules and regulations of the Rugby World Cup.
The outspoken Shelford has voiced his concern in the past for the unnecessary pressure the All Blacks are placed under, following an off-field drinking incident involving Corey Jane.
This time, he warns that the IRB needs to clear up a few ambiguities before the next edition of the tournament.
“The tournament thus far has been brilliant. There have been issues of the rules of the tournament: The unfairness of games, of breaks between games, all those sorts of things, a lot has to be sorted out before the next world cup,” Shelford told The New Zealand Herald.
Shelford suggested that instead of moving with the times, the IRB needs to take a step back to fulfil its supposed vision to have rugby become a global sport to rival the popularity already experienced by football.
“We’ve got to step into the 20th century big time with the way we’re running this game, this tournament – it’s not just about the big boys – if they want to make this game global, present it as a global game,” Shelford added.
“Make it fair for everybody and have a little bit of respect for the players who come here, not throwing them out of their hotels the day after a game – that’s terrible, I think just give them a couple of days grace to leave.
“But it’s all about money. And that shows you that greed of the IRB that it’s all about money.
Shelford went onto say that the IRB’s rule to only give the player’s a limited amount of time to stay in the country after they had been eliminated is a disgrace to the organisation.
“I’d say everyone in the world would think they should be given a couple of days’ grace. I think it’s pretty mean to throw them out of the country after losing.
“It’s the players that bring the tournament to life not the IRB.
“It’s become a big money making venture and they are making lots of money. If you want to spend money on the players, well here’s another way of doing it.
“They’ve (the players) just actually brought the money through the turnstiles, through the sponsorship to actually help this game, so your helping them for a couple of days for a hotel bill, for a, you know, food bill, they’d appreciate that tenfold.”
He also took a swipe at organisers over tomorrow’s 3rd-4th place playoff clash between Wales and Australia.
“They’ve got to play for it, they’ve got to go out there and play for that position because that’s part of the tournament whether you like it or not.
“It’s a tough one for both teams… It’s a character game. After both losing their semi finals it’s a big one to come back and play for a loser’s position.
“I don’t know why the administrators don’t look at that as well, it’s probably just another money making venture, another game to make money. They could have put a plate final on along the way and get the best out of the rest.”
As an ex caoch, he makes a lot of sense.
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