South African referees boss André Watson says two referees on the field is the way forward for world rugby.
Sport24
This system will be trialled in this year’s local Varsity Cup competition, and has been used in hostel games at Stellenbosch University over a long period.
“I firmly believe that for the sake of accuracy we should consider two referees in world rugby,” Watson said.
“In my days as referee there were between 100 and 120 tackles in a game. Now it’s more than 200.”
“A lot of emphasis is put on defence and in some games the tackle count has reached 300. Two referees will help a lot.”
Watson believes two referees would make it easier to officiate at the breakdowns.
“A referee can only be on one side of the ruck. Due to his positioning he may not see the ball and miss a lot of transgressions. Two referees will help us there.”
“The feedback from the Varsity Cup coaches after their warm-up games was very positive.”
“The game flows better and there are fewer penalties, because the players behave themselves. There is also more communication from referees to prevent transgressions,” continued Watson.
Rugby needs good referees, full stop!
Rugby’s world profile and attraction is directly connected to the fairness and quality of refereeing performances, the facilitation (as opposed to domminance) of a game and the result obtained in a game needs to be seen as arrived at without bias or manipulation.
Having a 2nd referee is an option, but quite frankly we need more than that, we need simpler laws and rules in a game, consistent interpretation of those rules right accross the globe and far less areas where decisions could have gone either way.
What about a review system like they use in cricket. Each captain can ask for 2 reviews in each half. It was tested in the varsity cup a few years ago and it looked like a great success. That last minute penalty, that look dubious and would win a game, can then be double checked.
2 @ leon:
Why that never caught on, is also beyond me!
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