Ref at Northampton

[Smudge]

Was not able to get to Northampton for business reasons but listened to it on BBC Radio Leicester. The commentators were raging about the referee and his decisions describing him as a novice and worse. Easily conned and way out of his depth.
Of course, it doesn't do to criticise officials, no matter how poor or biased they are. Sour grapes etc.
But if this chap was even 25% as bad as described, we should be very upset. Are we?

So to those of you lucky enough to attend, yesterday, were they right?

[wormus]

Was not able to get to Northampton for business reasons but listened to it on BBC Radio Leicester. The commentators were raging about the referee and his decisions describing him as a novice and worse. Easily conned and way out of his depth.
Of course, it doesn't do to criticise officials, no matter how poor or biased they are. Sour grapes etc.
But if this chap was even 25% as bad as described, we should be very upset. Are we?

So to those of you lucky enough to attend, yesterday, were they right?

Yes I too listened with intent to Radio Leicester as I was not going to pay £32 + @ Saints for an allocated terrace! Yes there were several comments on RL at the strange decisions, once the senior Assistant Referee intervened and advised Adam Leal, numerous off sides & forward balls, the three Tigers 5m scrums with Saints on a warning and the scrum went down for a Saints penalty not only amazed RL but apparently the fellow Radio Northampton commentators too, Wells was marched back 10metres when as Captain requesting clarification BUT we should have been more aware of his strange interpretations as he did the same at Welford Road with Tigers v London Irish and yellow carded Wells and then Mapapalangi on our line in the closing minutes.
Perhaps he came from the Luke Pearce / Wigglesworth Academy of Referee Interpretations!

[Tiger93]

Yeah Sir was terrible yesterday. Couple of poor decisions affecting Saints and about half a dozen killing us.

[voice of the crumbie]

The "issue" here is that because this is allegedly a "development" competition the referees supplied are those that need "development" rather than the front-line officials we see week to week in the premiership. The result is some unfathomable decisions. I would expect the referee's performance to be reviewed post match in an effort to learn and continuously improve performance. However it must be frustrating for supporters who have paid full price to watch a match to witness a series of incorrect decisions / interpretations that have an adverse effect on the outcome. The problem is if they don't give less experienced referees exposure at what is perceived to be just below premiership level when and where will they get sufficient experience to be able to move up to the premiership proper? It's a case of they're damned if they do and damned if they don't.

[wellstiger]

The "issue" here is that because this is allegedly a "development" competition the referees supplied are those that need "development" rather than the front-line officials we see week to week in the premiership. The result is some unfathomable decisions. I would expect the referee's performance to be reviewed post match in an effort to learn and continuously improve performance. However it must be frustrating for supporters who have paid full price to watch a match to witness a series of incorrect decisions / interpretations that have an adverse effect on the outcome. The problem is if they don't give less experienced referees exposure at what is perceived to be just below premiership level when and where will they get sufficient experience to be able to move up to the premiership proper? It's a case of they're damned if they do and damned if they don't.

And there's the rub.
Agree that "developement" is for the benefit of rugby as a whole. Therefore gate prices should be reflective of that.
And surely this would "Develope" a new and prolonged fan/supporter base. also to the benefit of rugby as a whole.

[mol2]

Perhaps development refs should have experienced ones on the touch line who have been given explicit instruction to help.

Perhaps there should be some arrangement for development refs to review video footage alongside a mentor to help them learn where they are making mistakes or how they are being hoodwinked in the scrums.

At scrum time I'm all for the touch judge coming onto the pitch to help where the ref is blind sided as a matter of routine.

[Tigerbeat]

Perhaps development refs should have experienced ones on the touch line who have been given explicit instruction to help.

Perhaps there should be some arrangement for development refs to review video footage alongside a mentor to help them learn where they are making mistakes or how they are being hoodwinked in the scrums.

The Development Referees are assigned a Mentor who is generally sat in the stands and will fedback at half time any information. The match video will then be watched out by both of them and reviewed to highlight any areas that could have been better and to learn from.
They have to start somewhere and be given the opprotunity at a higher level at some stage. Some will not make the mark initially but learning is part of life.

[johnthegriff]

By the time the very best of referees graduate to the Premiership they have officiated at many matches from school's game to Championship, they have assisted in Premiership games and the rules are the same at whatever level. Saturday's ref was not good, Saints conceded many penalties in swift succession within a few yards of their try line, we chose to scrum the Northampton 9 pushed and shoved White around before the ball came out, at one point he was behind our pack and in front of our scrum half, I believe a yellow card was in order, that the guy scored two tries after that rubbed salt into the wound. I should point out that the Saints supporters were not happy with him either, I do hope that referee learned a lot from the experience and I am glad for our sake that in this instance the result didn't really matter.

[ellis9]

This is where I think we should be a little bit more "clever".

If our opponents have done something blatantly illegal, at the next break in play, a player needs to approach the referee and kindly ask him "Just to be clear, I am allowed to push the scrum half and stand behind them at the scrum?" This brings it to the referees attention and makes him realise his error.

[drc_007]

Not sure choosing a scrum at penalty is wise these days. I can't remember the last time I saw a Tigers pushover try, teams seem to use various tactics to disrupt the scrum and refs are reluctant to do much more than simply award another penalty. Once there have been a couple of offences the refs seem to look for an excuse to penalise the attacking team to avoid taking the sanction higher.