“And well may Erin weep, that Connacht lies in slumber deep,
But, hark! A voice like thunder spake,
The West’s awake! The West’s awake!”
Those words, from Thomas Davis’s wonderful anthem, came to mind as the Connacht crowd thunderously roared on their team on Saturday.
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If the faithful fans turn up in the same passionate droves as those who arrived on Saturday for the opening of the splendid new Clan Stand, there will be no team who will relish a visit to the west. It was a terrific occasion, and, for the first hour, Connacht were magnificent. Leinster simply had more heavy artillery.
Derby matches are far from easy to referee, and yet they are essential experiences for any official who is targeting a long stay at the top level. Limerick’s Eoghan Cross is one such person and he came out of a tough enough evening pretty well.
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We have all heard of the swan paddling furiously beneath the water, but remaining composed above the surface. The main challenge for Cross was to allow the pot to simmer away, but also keep it from boiling over. He successfully did so – a positive, important tick in the referee’s credit box.
Of course, Stuart Lancaster will have some issues, particularly a few scrum calls. Cross, however, could very usefully review his verbals. Too much explaining can come across as justifying decisions; it also invites unwanted on-field debate. Precise and concise works better, as does a refusal to be drawn into prolonged chats.
[ Ellis Mee’s last-gasp try sees Scarlets snatch victory from Ulster at the deathOpens in new window ]
Ulster went to Wales on a high with the recent coaching ticket extension. They were nonetheless undone by Scarlets’ Ellis Mee with the clock in the red. It was a quite magnificent try, even though Ulster were without one of their back three in those last, fateful moments.
Just before that final whistle the TMO, Marius Jonker, had noticed a clumsy tackle by the visitors’ Werner Kok. Should the TMO have intervened? Yes, that’s the way of the world. A fair enough penalty, but the accompanying yellow card for Kok, given by South African referee Griffin Colby, looked harsh. The level of danger didn’t seem that high.
It was quite a contrast with Eddie James’s poleaxing of Ulster’s Mike Lowry just 50 seconds into the match. The match officials studied the various camera angles, but couldn’t find enough proof of a direct head collision. “No head collision” does not necessarily translate into “no danger”. Lowry had no chance of returning, and Iain Henderson’s dismayed comments to the referee were well founded.
As a general comment, it may be that referees are taking unnecessary flak for pedantic penalties. However, it does appear that the concept of “materiality” has largely disappeared. Let me try to explain.
In 1981, future World Cup-winning coach Clive Woodward and his fellow England players went in search of a rare victory in Wales, not having won in Cardiff since 1963. England were just moments away from achieving their objective when Brian Anderson, a good Scottish referee in his first international, set a scrum to Wales on the English 22. Welsh scrumhalf Brynmor Williams then dummy-passed from the base of the scrum to convey that the ball was out, a legal ploy back then.
Woodward bought the dummy, hook line and sinker, going offside in front of his own posts. Realising what had happened, he quickly returned to his proper onside position. But Anderson had spotted him and, even though Williams then messed up a shortside move, the referee penalised the English centre.
The kick was a simple formality for Welsh captain Steve Fenwick, earning his team the 21-19 win. England would wait another 10 years before breaking their Cardiff duck, a total of 28 years.
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At that time there was an unwelcome divergence in refereeing philosophy, with some – England’s Roger Quittenton was a good example – being very detailed in doling out penalties for offences which clearly had no bearing on play. Others, particularly in Ireland and Wales, favoured not whistling meaningless infringements, and the Woodward incident led to this approach winning the day. It was the birth of the concept of “materiality”, which then became the modus operandi for quite some time.
But more recent times have seen the detailed policy make something of a comeback. It’s not a difference in philosophy this time; more likely it’s the concern of the referees to be mistake-free. If a referee ignores an immaterial offence which leads to a penalty to the “offenders”, say at the next breakdown, a difficult question will be asked in the post-match analysis. So, it’s probably easier to stick out an arm and play advantage.
Materiality requires judgment, but now we are in an era of black-and-white, which means more stoppages. The advantage law also required judgment, but the current nonsensical interpretation adds to rugby’s stop-start problem. Returning to an offence unless a try is scored is totally at odds with the law. It states that advantage can be either territorial, tactical or a combination of both. For example, a fast line-break, or a clear attacking overlap, used to do the trick – “advantage over”. Not any more.
The pity of it all is that it’s probably far too late to change. Professionalism demands high levels of refereeing accuracy and judgments can often cause disagreement. However, no matter how hard everybody tries, it’s simply impossible to get everything right. And that’s not going to change any time soon, materiality or not.
