Best Referees In The World

[Eyes and Ears]

Is there a hierarchy of scrum penalties, eg if a prop is boring while flanker is detached, which one should be blown?

A good referee will apply a material effect test to the Laws. The best referees will get this right most often.

 

[Lee Grant]

A good young referee is Angus Gardener. I've seen him ref a few games in the Shute Shield and I think he has the right approach to the job; he ref's as though his job is to monitor the game and make sure it flows within the boundaries of the laws of the game, not like he is supposed to enforce the rules on every single act of the game. He also communicates well with the players

Good call. He's an up and comer.

Although my fave of the last 10 years is probably Chris White which I'm sure others find just as laughable.

No, I like him but he's slowed down a lot. He was still refereeing in the NH this season but someone said he had retired since.

I get all Majorly Raged when referee's refer to the game as theirs, u know "stop slowing down my game", pisses me right off (not say Barnes, Walsh do this - but they come across like this).

Agree - "Squeaky" Goddard used to make similar remarks.

I have no idea what you're talking about, cyclo... 7. Black was just a random hypothetical...

Have we digressed to roulette strategies? Not altogether out of place in a thread about refereeing, come to think about it; though that was probably your point Konze.

 

[PaarlBok]

IMO the SAffers have the best referees in the world and Craig Joubert is the no.1 ref in our sport, even though he's not that high on the SA merit order.


A year or two ago I read something written by a SAffer fan deploring the fact that the RSA had the best refs but because of the neutrality convention in the Super14 and 3N plus other tests, SAffer teams never got the benefit of them.


At first I thought it was typical laager thinking but since then I have come to the same opinion. I think that the SANZAR folks were of the same mind when they changed the neutrality rule in the Super 14. I forget what noises they made at the time but "we want our best referees to officiate in more Super14 games" was probabaly the catalyst for change.


With referees such as Kaplan, Jonker and Joubert, plus up and comer Stu Berry, the SAffers are well served and teams from other countries benefit from them. Berry has been of high class in the Currie Cup and 7s matches and is a future big test match referee if I am any judge. Peyper has promise too.


It may be noted that I didn't include Mark Lawrence. I think his standards have dropped and I'm not just referring to his performance in the Sydney Bledisloe this year in making that remark. I thought he was very good 3 years ago and remember being surprised that he didn't get a RWC appointment; but he has lost form since. He could get it back though and I hope he does.

Dankie Oom Lee,

I'll give all the credit for Andre Watson who have been superb in our orgaising of our refs. Myself is sure its not about the individuals refs , more to do with SA rugby competitions and building a ref structure to bring the young ones through to top level. Also good to have a ref academy and its not a surprise to see 14 year olds that play and ref at Paarl Gym. Versfeld a young up and coming ref a teacher here and sure play a huge role of helping young laaities to go that route. I love the hockey comcept of playing and umpiring. My oldest son was forced in matrix to write the ump exam and playing and end up with a national grading in umpiring. These days he get paid per match when umpiring and also involved in coaching.

 

[lincoln]

Watched Munster v Ospreys last night (great game). Christophe Berdos had a very positive influence on the game - seemingly picked up on the prop's tomfoolery (especially Adam Jones).

 

[Lee Grant]

A very good display though he was sometimes inconsistent at the breakdown, missing occasional infractions, some of which even the commentators picked up correctly - not a great attribute of Harrison and Barnes. Despite that, as lincoln said: he was a very positive influence on one of the matches of the season; it was like a test match.

After bagging the French referees in an earlier post I have to add that Romain Poite also had an excellent Heineken Cup game: Northampton v Cardiff Blues.

One thing I like about Poite usually, and Berdos on the weekend, is that they are fearless about issuing cards. This attribute is what the crackdown on the laws need as I fear the game will morph back into Killing Zone rugby otherwise. The Free Kick sanctions of the ELVs died because of the refs being too timid with cards. Let's hope that other refs follow suit.

Berdos had no fear about red carding Munster and Ireland icon POC in front of his home crowd. He had been out injured since last season, came back off the bench in a Magners League game then again last weekend. He lashed out backhanded at a guy who was tugging at his jersey and got him in the chops. POC was devastated to get the card but he deserved it IMO.

 

[chief]

He only red carded POC, to make up for not red carding Schalk Burger in last years B&I Lions series. I don't even think it deserved a red.

Lee, I take note with what you said in a earlier post about Poite and Berdos. To Poite, it is all in black and white, with Berdos things are in all different colours. It's why Poite is becoming one of the best in world rugby, we saw it in the AB's vs England match.

Mind you Berdos was surprisingly good in the Ospreys vs Munster match on the weekend.

 

[Lee Grant]

Yeah Poite can have some brilliant minimalist games, underwritten by a reluctance to speak a lot in English, and especially to hear it from captains in his ear. He is not too wordy in French either.

He can be odd sometimes though. As T78 said: sometimes he seems to hear voices. Maybe he is a descendant of Jeanne d'Arc. No, that could not be, could it?

 

[Lee Grant]

Wayne Barnes also had a top refereeing game in the HC last weekend: Clermont v. Leinster; but it was bloody funny to hear a Pom referee (Barnes),telling the Kiwi no.8 for Clermont (Lauaki) to go behind last feet (in French).

Another great match - there aren't too many test matches better than the Munster v. Ospreys or Clermont v. Leinster games last weekend.

 

[sudrugby]

I think you are too kind with Poite and Berdos coz even if they can have some good games, they are most of the time terrible, especially for Berdos. This is a big issue coz in a tough competition such as Top14 it is hard to accept mistakes. They are too arrogant and the federation is always backing them (like for Berdos clash Berbizier).
I think Alain Rolland and Nigel Owens are good refs. Wayne Barnes is too quick with using the whistle but he's improving.
I'm not a big fan of Kaplan, it is sometimes hard to understand its decisions (french consipracy theory!)

 

[Hawko]

I think you are too kind with Poite and Berdos coz even if they can have some good games, they are most of the time terrible, especially for Berdos. This is a big issue coz in a tough competition such as Top14 it is hard to accept mistakes. They are too arrogant and the federation is always backing them (like for Berdos clash Berbizier).
I think Alain Rolland and Nigel Owens are good refs. Wayne Barnes is too quick with using the whistle but he's improving.
I'm not a big fan of Kaplan, it is sometimes hard to understand its decisions (french consipracy theory!)

French conspiracy theory? Kaplan refereeing the Waratahs, Brumbies and Wallabies is way beyond a conspiracy. You may as well not turn up.

 

[sudrugby]

French conspiracy theory? Kaplan refereeing the Waratahs, Brumbies and Wallabies is way beyond a conspiracy. You may as well not turn up.

You know the ability of French people to say that if a decision seems unfair to us it is because all the refs are english speaking guys!

 

[RoffsChoice]

Bringing this thread back for some positivity. Refs get a lot of shit, but we saw some good performances on the weekend.

• Ben O'Keeffe did as well as you can do in a game where neither side provided much of any quality.
• Jaco Peyper was absolutely fantastic, making great calls and letting play run whenever possible.
• Mike Fraser avoiding becoming too whistle-happy in a game where a lesser ref might have become the centre of the game.
• With the exception of the Blues try before halftime, Nick Briant was spot on in pretty much everything.

Thanks to these refs, and thanks to any refs reading for making the game possible. I'll try to praise good performances in this thread on a weekly basis.

 

[Pfitzy]

Luke Pearce in the RFU is a good ref. Was watching him in QUins v Worcs and great communication, very humble approach, and generally good decision making.

 

[dru]

I quite like Gus

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Barnes. As good as Nigel but without the "look at me" tendencies.

 

[Adam84]

On Aussie refs, I think Nic Berry is tracking well to become a really high quality referee, I think his style of reffing is good too. Damon Murphy I’m not so sold on, seems to make a lot of contentious calls, which is never good.

 

[Dctarget]

On Aussie refs, I think Nick Frisby is tracking well to become a really high quality referee, I think his style of reffing is good too. Damon Murphy I’m not so sold on, seems to make a lot of contentious calls, which is never good.

Assuming you mean the other former Reds scrumhalf Nic Berry, but yes I think Nic has been improving, seems to respect the flow of the game rather than the sound of his whistle.

 

[Dan54]

Bringing this thread back for some positivity. Refs get a lot of shit, but we saw some good performances on the weekend.

• Ben O'Keeffe did as well as you can do in a game where neither side provided much of any quality.
• Jaco Peyper was absolutely fantastic, making great calls and letting play run whenever possible.
• Mike Fraser avoiding becoming too whistle-happy in a game where a lesser ref might have become the centre of the game.
• With the exception of the Blues try before halftime, Nick Briant was spot on in pretty much everything.

Thanks to these refs, and thanks to any refs reading for making the game possible. I'll try to praise good performances in this thread on a weekly basis.

Great post RC!!!! I think Refs like players have not great games, but seldom get credit for the (mostly) good games!!

 

[RoffsChoice]

Totally agree, Dan! I think we all remember when Barnes and Gardner were the worst refs in world rugby, now they're in the top 3 without a doubt! Form and development definitely play their part.

 

[RoffsChoice]

Round 2 of Super Rugby, and we had another good week of refereeing

• Federico Anselmi made consistently good calls to facilitate a cracking game of rugby that went down to the wire.
• AJ Jacobs let the game flow really well, making good use of advantage. I get why people think a yellow card after a penalty try is double jeopardy, but it is the law of the game that a penalty try must be accompanied by a yellow card (law 8.3).
• Paul Williams and Egon Seconds weren't afraid of controversy in a climate where nobody really knows what to make of cards. They didn't ruin the contest and were pretty fair. Much as we celebrate refs who let a game flow, the rules are also law; if rules are abhorant, change the rules, don't ignore them.