Ref Review: Southern Hemisphere Shows Dominance But Scotland Stun Wallabies

Cody Kuxmann • June 13, 2012 • 11 Comments

NEWCASTLE, AUSTRALIA – There were three games last weekend, with another being played mid-week. We had Scotland vs Australia, Ireland vs New Zealand, Wales vs Australia, and England vs South Africa. Of all of these games the Northern Hemisphere won one; Scotland upset Australia and nearly knocked themselves out doing so.

Let’s start with Scotland vs Australia: It was a match played in the worst of conditions; heavy rain and loads of wind. The final score was 9-6 with all points coming from penalty kicks. The teams just couldn’t handle the ball well, with deluge of knock-ons coming both ways. The scrums were a mess – once a team got a drive on the other would collapse it and often the ball was available. Jaco Payper indeed had his hands full. But my question is how much must we wait till there will be a change?

There was one fairly funny incident. I guess that you can’t blame jumping Scots, as it’s been around 25 years since their last win in Australia. Have a look:

Now onto the others…

New Zealand vs Ireland: It wasn’t the greatest of games, with the All Blacks winning convincingly by a 42-10 score. Nothing out of the ordinary with the officiating other than the usual comment that the SCRUMS NEED CLEANING UP! Nigel Owens could have done more… The game featured two packs who really weren’t into the scrums – though injuries to Ireland’s front row had a definite impact in that regard.

Wales vs Australia: Really didn’t have anything very noteworthy, except for the score – the Wallabies beat Wales 27-19. The game was played well but – here we go again – the scrums ought to be fixed! That and Wales really didn’t seem to adjust well to the referee, Craig Joubert. Yesterday, Wales beat the Brumbies, 25-15…

England vs South Africa: It was a good game (SA won 22-17) and I was very impressed with the refereeing at the tackle. However, the refereeing of the breakdown was interesting; Steve Walsh was very consistent but he just didn’t referee it very well. That didn’t impact the game, though, and in the end that’s what matters.

What did you think of the games?

Filed in: Cody Kuxmann

http://www.facebook.com/people/Junoir-Blaber/512502691 Junoir Blaber

The conditions for the Scotland-Aus game suited the Scots so much more, it was a joke
Haggis

That was just a fine summer’s day in Aberdeen!
AndyB

Regarding the scrums, perhaps the “CROUCH-TOUCH-SET” trial to be implemented in the fall will improve things somewhat by eliminating the extended pause. In the NZ-IRE match, I was pleased to see NO award a FK for the feed, which is usually allowed to proceed with impunity.
- http://www.facebook.com/ckuxmann Cody Kuxmann
  
  I found it interesting, he awarded the free kick, however wasn’t to consistent with it, one in the whole game. Crouch Touch Set I don’t think will work, I understand the reasoning, but we’ll only see in time.
  - AndyB
    
    NO is typically one of my favorite referees, and he’s usually pretty spot on with his management and application. I’ve only watched the first 20 minutes or so of the match, so haven’t been able to fully assess the impact of the initial “not straight” call. I was happy he pinged it on the first scrum as a statement, but if he wasn’t consistent throughout (and the camera angle didn’t show how egregious the feed was) then that’s a problem.
    
    As to the engagement sequence, I fully expect mass confusion in the opening weeks of the Union season on this side of the pond. The problem, I think, is that the players are trying to anticipate the cadence (c.f., England in its match against SA, where I think SW refereed that aspect of the scrum well) and aren’t doing well to adapt when the ref has to alter that cadence. While we as referees try to be consistent with the timing of the calls, we can’t move on until we see the scrums doing what they are supposed to do.
    - http://www.facebook.com/ckuxmann Cody Kuxmann
      
      I do like NO a lot, he’s very good and normally consistent. To me he set his straight at the scrum early, and then didn’t follow through on subsequent scrums.
      
      It’ll be interesting to see, I don’t see how three calls instead of four will impact it, but the two syllable to one syllable word should slightly clean it up.
Sitheref2409

Scotland last won in Australia in 1982 at Brisbane. 2012 – 1982 = 30, not 25.

Expand more on how the refereeing of the tackle was good, but that of the breakdown wasn’t.
- http://www.facebook.com/ckuxmann Cody Kuxmann
  
  I thought he got the tackle perfect, tackler assist was refereed very well, he made sure the sequence was correct. Once it got to the breakdown, it seemed that there were many players coming in from the sides, and just recklessly (no bind, just hitting the ruck) coming in.
- ToughGuy5
  
  If it was that long, then it was worth the stitches the two eejits got celebrating!
http://rugbywrapup.com/ RugbyWrapUp

That win for Scotland may have saved some coaching staff jobs over there, don’t you think?
- http://www.facebook.com/ckuxmann Cody Kuxmann
  
  It’s very possible, with how the season went I’m surprised that more jobs weren’t sacked. It’ll be interesting to see how they stack up against the Pacific nations.