Durban - The 2022 Rugby Championship will long be remembered for its refereeing controversies but while Australia has raised the subject with World Rugby, the Springboks “trust the processes” according to coach Jacques Nienaber.
Wallaby legend David Campese a few weeks ago described modern Test rugby as “a joke” because the average game today has four times more penalties than a game in the ‘80s and is nearly half an hour longer because of incessant stoppages for TMO deliberations.
The words were barely out of Campo’s mouth when the Wallabies were rocked by a peculiar decision by Frenchman Mathieu Raynal at the end of their match against New Zealand in Melbourne. He penalised Bernard Foley for “time wasting” and the All Blacks promptly scored from the gifted possession and won the game 39-37.
England coach Eddie Jones also weighed in on the subject a month ago and he called for stakeholders to get together and discuss whether the current product of stop-start rugby is what people really want to see.
Nienaber was asked for his opinion at his team announcement press conference on Tuesday and he answered diplomatically: “We trust the officiating process. Just like we coaches are getting answers regarding our players as we build towards a World Cup, so is World Rugby getting the same with their match officials.
“They are giving referees high-pressure games to see if they can handle it, so we just trust the process,” the coach added.
Speaking of TMO disruptions, Chris Hart, the same Kiwi TMO who made a meal of so many stoppages in Buenos Aries last week, will again be on duty at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on Saturday.
The man in the middle will be Australian Damon Murphy and the touch judges will be Ireland’s Frank Murphy and Italy’s Andrea Piardi.
@MikeGreenaway67