Poor Matt?

The Rugby World Cup in France has kicked off with a bang, and while there has been some electrifying matches over the opening weekend, we appear to hear a lot of talk on the referees. To quote Bono, "Maybe, maybe too much talk."

The particular match that caught my attention was the clash between Wales and Fiji, a thrilling spectacle that had fans on the edge of their seats. While Matt Carley, the referee for the match, generally seemed to handle the game well, there were moments of contention that seems to have been blown out of proportion.

I've never been, nor will I ever be, a top-level referee – but I couldn't help but wonder why a yellow card didn't make an appearance when Welsh offenses occurred on their own try line. In a similar situation, I imagine my advisor would ask, "How do you think you could address these persistent offences on their own line?”, and would follow up my obvious answer with a schoolteacherly; “So why didn’t you?”

In fairness, I suspect that Matt will have something similar this week.

What didn’t help, was the yellow card given to a Fijian flanker shortly after. My initial reaction was that it was a bit harsh, but then I put myself in the referee's shoes. Should this have been a penalty try? The Welsh maul was making impressive progress toward the try line, and once you decide it's a penalty, the question of whether it should be a penalty try automatically arises. It’s a reasonable question to ask yourself

as a ref, but if you decide that you can’t be sure about the PT, then the next step back is obviously penalty plus yellow.

This is all logical. It is unfortunate that it happened shortly after the succession of Welsh transgressions.

What added to Matt Carley's challenge was that these situations coincided with the last game of the weekend, where high tackles had been a matter of intense discussion. Take Tom Curry's case, for instance. I personally felt there was enough mitigation due to the change in height and the dynamic situation when Mallia landed from his jump, to choose a yellow card. The bunker review deemed it a red card though, which I can accept, as it is a tight call.

But the real issue lies in the inconsistency of similar incidents across the weekend, which received a mix of no sanctions, penalties, or yellow cards. Even more concerning is that the pool referees often bear the brunt of social media blame. In my view, the referee in the middle is the least to blame, even though they are ultimately responsible for the the game. The “Sole Arbiter” as we are constantly reminded.

At our level, which is far from the professionalized and televised world of rugby, the pace is slower, the power is less, and the skills are not as refined. In such games, no referee, not even the very best, can see everything that happens on the field. This is why I like the bunker review process, but it desperately needs consistency. I would love to referee with a TMO and a bunker fella. Sometimes, getting two people to simply remember to let me know when the ball goes into touch is a bonus.

In my humble opinion, if there's blame to be apportioned – and in the 'modern' world, there's always blame to apportioned – it's the consistency of the TMOs and bunker review personnel that needs improvement. The game deserves it, the players deserve it, and the many of the fans deserve it.

Consistency generally in the game? Well, I'll leave that discussion for another time.