semi final refs

Am I the only person that finds it odd that the IRB have appointed Allain Rollaind to referee the France-Wales match? I know he's 'Irish' but lets face it he must have some alliegance to France. With all the other Refs out there I'm sure they could have found a different one. Would have been more than happy with Joubert again.

Allain Rolland gets more than his share of French matches. This is because he is fluent in French. So he has a french father, so what? (I am sure he will be fair minded, just as Nigel Owen's was in SA v Samoa game.)

Too often French teams playing against English speaking teams are at a disadvantage when they get an English speaking ref - who then witters away giving advice etc. It is much easier to "play to the ref" when he speaks your native tongue.

Now if Joubert agreed to speak in only Afrikaans then neither team would have an advantage.


PS Why did you put 'Irish' as if you doubt his nationality?

Presumably that means that neither Joubert nor Rolland will be given the final, which would be a great shame imo?

I don't doubt his nationality.

I agree about that French speaking ref but I'm sure there are other french speaking refs who don't have a familial connection to France.

Under IRB rules I would qualify as an English ref but my father is Scottish. I couldn't guarantee to be unbiased if Scotland were playing and I was reffing.

Anyway I'm sure he'll be fine. Just thought it was a bit odd that's all

I dont think its odd, I just dont like him as a ref though. I would have prefered Steve Walsh or any SH ref for this one.

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:Presumably that means that neither Joubert nor Rolland will be given the final, which would be a great shame imo?

I hope that's not the case, Asbo. Craig Joubert has been excellent so far.

RubyGuby wrote:I dont think its odd, I just dont like him as a ref though. I would have prefered Steve Walsh or any SH ref for this one.

I don't either.

Welsh fans should be hoping that Roman Poite gets the final


As an aside - is Walsh who is officially an Aussie ref allowed to take charge of NZ matches?

mckay1402 wrote:Am I the only person that finds it odd that the IRB have appointed Allain Rollaind to referee the France-Wales match? I know he's 'Irish' but lets face it he must have some alliegance to France.

I'm amazed anyone can think that Rolland 'must' have an allegiance to France.

luckless_pedestrian wrote:

mckay1402 wrote:Am I the only person that finds it odd that the IRB have appointed Allain Rollaind to referee the France-Wales match? I know he's 'Irish' but lets face it he must have some alliegance to France.

I'm amazed anyone can think that Rolland 'must' have an allegiance to France.

Why are you amazed?

I'm amazed because a) Alain Rolland is a world-class prefessional referee, and b) he's Irish, not French.

Rollands father is French and his mother is Irish, he does tend to give France the benefit of the doubt in every situation, that isnt paranoia just hard fact. Sending that Namibian player off in the 19th minute for a tap on the shoulder against a french player in the 2007 world cup is a typical case in point, it was a penalty at the most.

Though to be fair I am always happy when he is refereeing wales because he does also favour us and it very familiar with welsh players.

I'm happy with rowlands appointment, and will be interested to see his performance. I think both teams will be happy.

I'm not a fan of Rolland personally, I didn't much like how he reffed our game against Samoa.

One thing he is though is a complete professional and I don't for one second think he will ever favour France more. If there was even the slighest bit of evidence that he does that then he wouldn't have been picked for this match.

luckless_pedestrian wrote:
I'm amazed anyone can think that Rolland 'must' have an allegiance to France.

Welsh fans should be hoping that Roman Poite gets the final

I'm amazed that anyone in Wales would care who refs the final.

Have they announced who is reffing the final yet?

If it is NZ v Wales...

Please, please, please let it be Wayne Barnes!

You'll be able to hear the explosion in London (as TGG's head pops in apopleptic rage) from all over the world.

Wayne Barnes is a splendid referee, and I for one would welcome another rare opportunity to see an Englishman feature in this world cup. Let's face it, he's one of the few Englishmen who hasn't embarrassed himself yet in this world cup. (Other than the now-expected ruling man sausage up costing a team a victory in a tight game)

It would also give ITV something to talk about. We could have a half hour build up about Wayne's childhood, how he was bullied in school, his path to becoming a referee...

And afterwards they could run an hour long highlights programme with some garage rock backing and slow motion shots of Wayne running to break downs, signalling penalties, and issuing yellow cards, whilst Lolly Dayglo makes his trade mark googly-eyed facial expressions and reminds us who won the world cup in 2003.

There are 2 refs I always despair at when we get them and that's Allain Rolland and Wayne Barnes.

Anyone else no problem, but those 2 always always have it in for us. So what do we get, 1 reffing and 1 running the line.

Our semi final just got very much harder as far as I'm concerned.

Having said that I think Wales will have too much for France on Saturday, I just hope it's not so close that a refereeing 'mistake' will cost us a final place.

TheGreyGhost wrote:

luckless_pedestrian wrote:
I'm amazed anyone can think that Rolland 'must' have an allegiance to France.

Welsh fans should be hoping that Roman Poite gets the final

I'm amazed that anyone in Wales would care who refs the final.

The subtlety of my not subtle post must have escaped some people. If Poite is the ref for the Final, Wales must of course be in it.

I WANT JOUBERT!...or Nigel Owens

Who is reffing the other SF? Owens?

AlynDavies wrote:Rollands father is French and his mother is Irish, he does tend to give France the benefit of the doubt in every situation, that isnt paranoia just hard fact.

Wow, I can't believe the IRB haven't noticed! You should tell them, they'll be so grateful!

Oh, Joubert got the other semi final.

I really hope it is Joubert in the final.

wales606 wrote:Oh, Joubert got the other semi final.

I really hope it is Joubert in the final.

Cool.

Goodness me some people are stupid. No ref "has it in for us", no ref "gives [them] the benefit of the doubt in every situation". What happens is the ref calls it as he sees it, and because he's a lot less biased than you are, you disagree and come to the conclusion that the ref must be biased.

Strange.

Equally strange that a tackle which could have broken a player's neck, and indeed the 3rd of its type within a few minutes is only a penalty.

Dont know if he's biased towards the French or not, i just dont like Rolland as a ref.

Mike Selig:


Did you watch Wales v Samoa? Rolland allowed Samoa to practically do what they wanted at the breakdown, it was laughable, even the commentators remarked on it. Rolland used to be a very good ref but for some reason over the last two years his interpretation and decision making of the scrum and breakdown has been questionable to say the least. Yes every ref has his own likes/dislikes but Rolland has made some pretty strange decisions in this World Cup. I just wish the IRB would have used a SH ref as it's two NH teamas playing.

TheGreyGhost wrote:Wayne Barnes is a splendid referee, and I for one would welcome another rare opportunity to see an Englishman feature in this world cup. Let's face it, he's one of the few Englishmen who hasn't embarrassed himself yet in this world cup. (Other than the now-expected ruling man sausage up costing a team a victory in a tight game)

It would also give ITV something to talk about. We could have a half hour build up about Wayne's childhood, how he was bullied in school, his path to becoming a referee...

And afterwards they could run an hour long highlights programme with some garage rock backing and slow motion shots of Wayne running to break downs, signalling penalties, and issuing yellow cards, whilst Lolly Dayglo makes his trade mark googly-eyed facial expressions and reminds us who won the world cup in 2003.

omg, lol your mind is becoming deranged GG- maybe its time to stop reading papers, or get out in the sticks.