Too Much Overuse-TMO ???

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By Richard Loe for the NZ Herald.

How stupid can officials get? They didn't even keep to the rule book in this morning's World Cup opener between England and Fiji.

I think officials should use technology because it's important to get things right but, even when they used it today, they got it wrong.

The opening try of the match, when England were awarded a penalty try, was a blatant truck and trailer and Fiji should have earned a penalty. Then there was the lifting tackle - when Fijian flanker Dominiko Waqaniburotu lifted English wing Jonny May.

The officials looked at it five or six times, and it was clearly dangerous, yet didn't sinbin Waqaniburotu.

And finally they needed an inordinate number of looks at the tries to both Nemani Nadolo and Billy Vunipola when it was obvious after the first viewing they had scored.

Just make a decision, already. I really hope this World Cup isn't ruined by officials.


http://m.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11515790

thebandwagonsociety wrote:I definitely agree that the schedules once again do no favours for the minnows.

But all in all, I thought it was a fabulous opening weekend of rugby.  Very entertaining.

Yup, brilliant opening weekend of games... unless you are a boks fan

Cyril wrote:Many tries in league are judged by the TMO and they don't seem to have a problem. They're generally looking at similar things (offside?, foot in touch? grounding? etc). Maybe it's just going to take a while to get used to it.

In terms of drawing the ref's attention to foul play I think it's generally a good thing as citings after the event don't help the team who are sinned against.

I think it's more a case of the ref taking control and being the final arbiter rather than leaving it all to the TMO when they're seeing the same footage.

As with all officiating it's all about consistency. Having most people see the new rulings in in a World Cup wasn't maybe the best idea.

Scrum feeds are a mess as usual and any side that is penalised is going to feel badly done to as everyone has got away with it for so long.

First bold - my guestimate is that something like 50% of 'tries' are reviewed in RL, and no-one seems to object. And league is definitely easier to ref than RU, as it is rare that the touch down occurs under a pile of more than abut 3 bodies.

Agree with the suggestion that Peyper should have reviewed simply because neither he nor the linesman was able to keep up with play and to see the grounding with an unobstructed view. Given the speed of the Fiji SH, that's hardly a criticism of the officials. Still think it should have been a penalty for the block on Tom Wood off the scrum, although hard to see from the tv footage when the ball is out (especially because it is between the flanker's feet)

Second bold - the modified interpretations are generally sensible and things that many on here have been complaining about for a few years (in particular the 'judo throw' clearing out by the neck). Hopefully over the next couple of games the teams will get used to these modifications and we won't see too many controversial decisions relating to these.