referees are too inconsistent and/ or incompetent

Does anyone else agree that all refs should be given ratings by other qualified officials after all matches and if they fail to score consistently high number have license removed.

If they score low they can find out why and get it right next game as opposed to continuing on making the same goddam mistakes !

ruins games. bad for supporters bad for the game !

time to sharpen up i say  

Ref at Tigers today was effing awful. How many times did Dylan Hartley pop up out of the scrum and the Ref ignored it? Dont even get me started on the Saints knocking on twice in the same move and the ref awarding a Saints scrum!

I can say this today and it not sound like sour grapes, but David Rose was truly attoricious this afternoon. Both sets of fans were utterly bemused by his decisions.

Pfft you should see what you get in the amateur game.

It's a tough job with both teams trying to influence you, fans weighing in and in the professional game there are ex internationals analyzing every decision with the advantage of super slow motion camera shots. We all get frustrated and there is a ref rating system in place to assist their personal development and at the end of the day how easy is it when the IRB keep changing the interpretation of the laws.

As far as I am aware they've not changed the laws on knock ons, forward passes and crossing, as well as where the hindmost foot is at a ruck and taking players out in the air, all of which Mr Rose seriously struggled with today.

Come on now lads, I thought only the Welsh moaned about refs?

No, you just only moan about them when you lose!  

formerly known as Sam wrote:Pfft you should see what you get in the amateur game.

It's a tough job with both teams trying to influence you, fans weighing in and in the professional game there are ex internationals analyzing every decision with the advantage of super slow motion camera shots. We all get frustrated and there is a ref rating system in place to assist their personal development and at the end of the day how easy is it when the IRB keep changing the interpretation of the laws.

But Cian Healy definitely tried to finishDan Coles career in the last Ireland vs England match...?

No he just tried some under hand tactics to remove the player who was giving him a pasting in the scrum.

True Ozzy, nobody's perfect and at least in your game you cam say the ref didn't affect the result, right?

Reffing rugby is very difficult. Lots of rules many open to interpretation. the refs need to look in two places at once if not more. the only answer is more officials on the pitch - like American football.

If players stop cheating that would help.

TJ wrote:Reffing rugby is very difficult.  Lots of rules many open to interpretation.  the refs need to look in two places at once if not more.  the only answer is more officials on the pitch - like American football.

If players stop cheating that would help.

Your last point is true.

Modern Rugby has a culture of trying to constantly cheat the laws of the game rather than just getting on with competing. And to the games massive detriment.

alive555 wrote:Does anyone else agree that all refs should be given ratings by other qualified officials after all matches and if they fail to score consistently high number have license removed.

If they score low they can find out why and get it right next game as opposed to continuing on making the same goddam mistakes !

ruins games. bad for supporters bad for the game !

time to sharpen up i say  

There is a referee's assessor at each game scoring the ref's performance.

Sometimes refs have bad days, but actually they usually perform to a higher level than the players. We expect them to see everything but they can only look one place at a time.


MT I very much doubt that Doyle was in a position to see those two knock ons - as he was 60m away with a pile of people between him. Not sure why he was so far away, but earlier in the same move there was a bad case of blocking, or so I thought, so I swivelled to see what the ref would do and saw where he was. That cause me to miss the knock ons - but certainly those in the Crumbie seemed certain. Goodliffe on the line should be seeing it really.

TJ I agree 100% with your comments about cheating. Any law change sees coaches devising ways to cheat them and players implementing that. Personally I believe that the refs nowadays are better than those in the 80s say. The favourites of older fans, would really struggle to keep up with the modern game. In fact try and find pre-pro footage and see just how clean the breakdown is.

The other issue is we expect theswe elite level refs to appear from no where.  The italian ref for Glasgow is a young guy on his way up.  Had a decent game tho I thought including handling some contentious issues well.  Two glasgow yellows.  One for repeated breakdown infringements and altho Lamont can feel hard done to the team cannot.  Matawalo - definite stamp but the ball was being deliberately impeded.  He raked for it once and the forward did not get out of the way.  So having warned him he stamped on him.  Maybe the ref should have penalised the scarlets player before the stamp but again you cannot argue that the yellow card is wrong.

I think people can accept a bad performance from a referee. Sometimes it works for you, sometimes not. The issue I have is referees who are consistently poor. I have yet to see the ref from the Scarlets game last night even be mediocre.

Peter Allan (SRU) was gash for a good few years. What's happened to him?