Tom Curry is sent to the bunker after receiving a yellow card from referee Mathieu Raynal Photo: PA/Mike Egerton
World Rugby has been criticized by by one of the leading referees for introducing the official “bunker” of the televised match in such a short time before this year's World Cup.
French judge Mathieu Raynal also believes that judges should be able to explain their decisions. Media after the match.
World Rugby, with the support of the match authority, has introduced its new “bunker” system, in which referees refer cases of foul play that meet the yellow card threshold to a secondary TMO for further analysis and assessment during the match. a summer rugby championship and a warm-up for the sport's biggest event in the fall. The World Cup itself was then accompanied by controversial refereeing decisions. A handful of officials, such as England's Wayne Barnes, have received death threats.
Barnes, who took charge of the World Cup football final, after which he was threatened on social networks. Photo: Paul Harding/Getty Images
Reynal, who refereed England's victories over Argentina and Fiji at the World Cup in France, lamented the lack of transparency created by the bunker.
“I think it was probably a mistake to build a bunker at the last minute before the World Cup without practicing it and using it more,” the 42-year-old said after being named France's best umpire at a French awards ceremony rugby. This week. “It was a mistake. It was also difficult, because you send the situation to a bunker, they come back to you with a decision, and you cannot explain to the world why you made such a decision.
“Before this, we could put words on videos and could take people by the hand and they would follow us until a final decision was made. It was interesting from the point of view of communication and explanations. Now, with the help of the bunker, we broke that relationship with the people in front of the TVs or the people in the stands, which was difficult.
“I said this before the World Cup when we discussed how we should deal with the press if there was a mistake that changed the game. I think we need to make it very simple: I go and sit on a chair and explain: “Okay, guys, I made a mistake.” The game was so fast that I made an error in judgment. I don't regret it because it's my job to judge and mistakes can happen, but I'm sad about it – but it is what it is. What do you want me to do? I won't jump off the top of a building because I made a mistake on the field.” This is the life of judges.
“I hope we keep the relationship between coaches, referees, players and fans as simple as we can. It's easier to say to the fans: “Yes, I made a mistake. What can we do after this?”
A World Rugby spokesman told Telegraph Sport: “The bunker was born out of the results of the 2022 tournament.” A form of game meeting in which coaches, match officials and administrators came together to find ways to improve the accuracy of foul play decisions while reducing the amount of time that play was stopped.
“Change can be difficult to adjust to and we thank the official team match for the professional perception of this concept.”
'We have to be careful about where we go in the sport'
The bunker – and TMO in general – has become one of the most talked about topics in rugby, with former Australia head coach Eddie Jones recently saying that “there are dangers in using TMO ” However, Raynal would not be so quick to eliminate the official's presence in the truck.
Raynal will stick to the TMO. Author: Adam Pretty/World Rugby
“It would be interesting to see a game without TMO,” the Frenchman said. “After one mistake people agreed, after two mistakes they started complaining, and then after three mistakes they asked for the TMO back. We cannot fight errors or avoid refereeing errors. We just have to accept it, and we'll waste less energy fighting to keep the game bug-free.
“You can put a drone, something in the ball, experts everywhere, 20 bunkers, but this will not change the fact that at some moments you have to admit the mistakes of the judges. The game is very fast, we make decisions in a split second.
“In rugby, we forgive the mistakes of the players, we forgive the mistakes of the coaches, but we never forgive the mistakes of the referees. We accept this, but people need to understand that our sport is more important than winning or losing.
“Rugby needs to think about what exactly they want in the future and what kind of sport we are going to give our children. We still have a sport full of values, but it is starting to change a little. We need to be careful about how our sport evolves over the next few years.”
The changing values of sport are linked to the growing trend of abuse on social media. Telegraph Sport reported last week that World Rugby had become the first sports governing body to take action against fans responsible for extreme abuse of referees online, sharing dossiers of evidence with law enforcement and government agencies – with 200 incidents identified in seven different countries .< /p>
“Obviously we cannot accept [social media abuse],” Raynal said. “We don’t accept it on the street, so why do we accept it on social media? I completely agree with Wayne [Barnes] on this one. We must be stronger. I think the laws and government should be stricter in this regard. This is very important for judges – and for sports too.
“Part of you enjoys the World Cup because it is the World Cup. This happened in my country. This is a big event in the world. But another part of you doesn't like it because we, as a group, don't like to be in the middle of controversy. I don't like seeing friends in a social media storm. We try our best. We're not saying we're perfect. We can't fight the power of video footage, the power of slow motion, and the power of social media. Even if we try our best, we will not be able to fight it.”
However, despite the growing acrimony, Raynal has no plans to follow Barnes and hang up his boots just yet after winning his second consecutive best referee award at the Nuit du Rugby this week.
“It’s a huge honor to be selected referee of the year by players, coaches and other referees,” he said. “It means a lot to me, but even more to my son. He's so excited about it.”
Cockerill is running for Georgia
By Charles Richardson
Richard Cockerill shortlisted for vacancy in Georgia. Photo: Andrew Boyers/Reuters
Richard Cockerill has emerged as a leading candidate for Georgia's vacant head coaching job just days after being fired by Montpelier.
Telegraph Sport understands the Georgia Rugby Union board will meet on Friday to discuss the vacancy and Cockerill's name stands out on the shortlist. If he wins the race, the 52-year-old will follow in the footsteps of his former Leicester teammate Graham Rowntree, who was on Georgia's 2019 World Cup coaching ticket.
After leaving his role as England scrum coach At the culmination of the last Six Nations, Cockerill signed Philippe Saint-André at Montpellier as an assistant. Both Cockerill and the French legend left Mohed Altrad's French giants this week, but their derby defeat to Perpignan left them bottom of the top 14 with one win in seven.
Controversially, Altrad appointed Bernard Laporte to replace the duo, who arrived in Montpellier as director of rugby with a new coaching team.
Former France head coach and former vice-president of the World Rugby Organization rugby. resigned as president of the French Rugby Federation in January after being found guilty of illegal conflict of interest, insider influence and four counts of passive corruption, each of which was “guided by bias against” Altrad, who is a close friend. Laporte is appealing the decision.
René Bouscatel, president of France's top 14 league, said: “This matter concerns only the club members and Bernard. It's their business. I respect him on a sporting level, but that's their business. Under French law, you are innocent until proven guilty. We can think whatever we want, but it is what it is.
Montpellier made this choice. It's great that someone with Bernard's skills and experience is coming to the club. This is the club's problem. Everyone makes their own choice.”
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