RUGBY -TMO - WRONG DECISION ? and Players reaction

guitars4you

So last week we had the issue with a refs decision on the pitch regarding the German win in football - Followed by all the talk about needing TMO style officials to make sure the correct decision is reached

So this week after the NZ v Lions match and that BIG decision, then it looks like they still get it wrong even with TMO - I've seen copies of the rules for both offside and accidental offside and to be fair it does look like it could go either way and very much left to the opinion of the officials as to accidental offside or not - However, why did the Lions offside player then let go of the ball in the manner of 'shit I should not have done that' ? - I've only really seen Gatland think it was accidental offside and in fact only Gatland appears to be asking for a penalty offence to be given to the Lions for the challenge in the air by Reed - A fair comment from Gatland might have been 'I've seen such decisions go both ways, so maybe we were a touch lucky' - Most pundits and ex-players believe it should have been a penalty to the NZ - So why when the ref got it right on the pitch then change his mind - Bottom line is that with or without TMO then they can still get it wrong and at worse, still create controversy 

Surprised more comments  have not been made after the Lions offside player let go of the ball and it was picked up by a NZ player who started a run to the line, so why was no advantaged played on the field at the time ?

However taking all the chat away about the actual decision what about total credit to both sets of players and the 2 captains - An immense decision at an unbelievable key moment and both sets of players respected the decision - Reed questioned it in a polite way with the ref, as the captain he is allowed to do so - I think we all know  that if that had  have been a football match then all 22 players would have been in there in a gobby vile abusive manner

fretmeister

TMO's don't negate all bad decisions.

But they do reduce the amount of bad decisions, and they catch far more instances of foul play.

And he dropped the ball because he knew he shouldn't have had it. Dropping it probably allowed the scrum rather than the penalty. If he had continued to play it, then it could not have been viewed as being accidental.

The situation that dumped Scotland out of the RWC was very similar, but the ref went the other way. Many think that was wrong.

koneguitarist

There were a few decisions throughout match that went both ways for instance' I thought Kaino was hard done by with YC, but the NZ thought O'Brien should have been banned for similar offence. 
Earlier in Match we had a clear overlap but NZ player swatted ball forward which would normally have been a YC plus we could well have scored a try. Swings and roundabouts, im not a fan of Poite generally but thought he had a decent match. 
Regarding TMO's I believe they should show ref all the angles and let ref decide and not try to influence outcome. The ref should be the final arbitrator in my view. 

crunchman

You always get issues with borderline decisions.  I watch a lot of NFL, and it's the same.  There are borderline decisions that get discussed ad nauseam on the NFL sites.  In cricket it's the borderline Umpire's Call decisions that normally cause all the fuss.

I don't think replay will ever fix those borderline decisions.  What it's good for is reducing the number of genuine errors.  If I use cricket as an example, you used to see players given out LBW when there was a blatant inside edge, or when the ball had pitched way outside leg stump, or caught behind when the ball had hit their thigh pad on the way through to the keeper.  You also used to see stuff in the batsmans favour as well like plumb LBWs that weren't given, bat pads that weren't given, or edges that the umpire didn't hear.  For all its faults, the review system has got rid of the bad errors.

It's the same in Rugby and the NFL as well.  While the decision making isn't perfect, it has got a lot better with the benefit of video replay.

TimmyO

guitars4you said:

So last week we had the issue with a refs decision on the pitch regarding the German win in football - Followed by all the talk about needing TMO style officials to make sure the correct decision is reached

So this week after the NZ v Lions match and that BIG decision, then it looks like they still get it wrong even with TMO - I've seen copies of the rules for both offside and accidental offside and to be fair it does look like it could go either way and very much left to the opinion of the officials as to accidental offside or not - However, why did the Lions offside player then let go of the ball in the manner of 'shit I should not have done that' ? - I've only really seen Gatland think it was accidental offside and in fact only Gatland appears to be asking for a penalty offence to be given to the Lions for the challenge in the air by Reed - A fair comment from Gatland might have been 'I've seen such decisions go both ways, so maybe we were a touch lucky' - Most pundits and ex-players believe it should have been a penalty to the NZ - So why when the ref got it right on the pitch then change his mind - Bottom line is that with or without TMO then they can still get it wrong and at worse, still create controversy 

Surprised more comments  have not been made after the Lions offside player let go of the ball and it was picked up by a NZ player who started a run to the line, so why was no advantaged played on the field at the time ?

However taking all the chat away about the actual decision what about total credit to both sets of players and the 2 captains - An immense decision at an unbelievable key moment and both sets of players respected the decision - Reed questioned it in a polite way with the ref, as the captain he is allowed to do so - I think we all know  that if that had  have been a football match then all 22 players would have been in there in a gobby vile abusive manner

I believe Law 6a4a pretty much covers everything this thread needs. 

It's one of the things that has set Rugby apart in a good way.

It is eroding all the time, with it becoming more usual for decisions on the field to be pulled apart by press and pundits but let's not hasten that along. 

6.A.4 THE DUTIES OF THE REFEREE IN THE PLAYING ENCLOSURE (a) The referee is the sole judge of fact and of Law during a match.