In this month’s Rugby World magazine (June 2020 edition) – as well as a cracking interview with St Nigel of Pontyberem – I had the pleasure of contributing to their ‘Face Off’ feature. This is where experts (*coughs*) spell out both sides of a rugby-related debate.
This month, we were arguing that slow motion replays were/weren’t spoiling the game. Jebb Sinclair, former Canadian international flanker, spoke for the prosecution. Here’s what I had to say in support of them:
The TMO has been part of our game since 1999. Why? To help get the big game-changing refereeing decisions more accurate. And over the last 20 years, they’ve been tweaking the process to make sure it stays fit for purpose.
For a period, slow motion replays were used too much, and that caused games to drag out. But with the new High Tackle Sanction Framework (HTSF), there’s been much less use.
Most referees will only now ask for slow motion replays for proving a point of contact when it comes to foul play. The HTSF leads to different outcomes depending on what hits what.
Slow mos serve a great purpose in selling those decisions to those watching in the stadium or on TV. They prove that they’re looking at a head/neck contact or a body one.
They are also crucial around the try-line when we have to get the proof of the ball hitting the line before a foot goes into touch, or vice versa. Huge decisions that demand accuracy.
Those aside, referees now only want replays in real time. Only that way can you see things being clear and obvious. Slow mos can remove the context of the full action, and if TMOs are having to slow things down, then it’s not clear and obvious.
Rugby needs to decide if we use the technology we all have to get the right outcomes. If we do, then slow mos are part of that. The referees & TMOs know that but don’t want to rush for the sake of losing accuracy.
I can’t reproduce Jebb’s pearls in full, but I’m not so sure I found his argument that persuasive. On one hand, he bemoaned the fact that slow mos “really slow the game down”, yet he then he advocated the Captain’s Challenge – ie giving each team captain three chances each to slow the game down for their own advantage, and have the TMO check something . So a potential six more stoppages a game. Erm…
Anyway, that’s the point of the debate. And it’s great to be asked to contribute.
What do you think about the Captains challenge? Or how current referees use the TMO? Are we getting any better at it? Have your say in the comments below, or head to our Facebook page to have the discussion there.