Referees.

I like Nigel Owens. Always get his point across to the players, and isn't afraid to be humorous. Generally agree with most of his decisions, and I don't find he particularity whistle happy.

Don't like George Clancy as his interpretation of scrums and the breakdown bordeelines on insane.

Pudsy33 wrote: »

Also I dislike Steve Walsh, purely for his overuse of the word "mate"

Aye but what about his magnificent hair and beard?

Joubert is decent. I quite like JP Doyle think he's a very clear ref who is very consistent.

Stev_o wrote: »

Joubert is decent. I quite like JP Doyle think he's a very clear ref who is very consistent.

JP Doyle is a quality referee in my eyes. How did he end up in the English system though?

Jaco Piper (SP?) from South Africa is a decent enough ref too

I like McEnemey, he's a new ref in the Pro12. Think he's one to watch.

Nigel is too much of a home town ref. Love when we have him in the rds, dispare when we have him on the road

Most fans when they loose blame the ref. It's really because admitting the better team won might be a dent to their ego.

If the team keeps loosing with different refs, then they blame the manager. The people who do this have probably never reffed or managed a game in their lives. Ah sure isn't easy being an expert on the couch :-)

Crash wrote: »

I was always sad when Joel Jutge retired. he screwed us once or twice but he was one of the ones who should have had a longer career.

True I thought he was a very decent international ref and think it's very sad that his knee managed to end both his playing and reffing careers! Whenever I see or hear of a ref who took to it after their playing career was ended I get a huge sense of "fair play" that they love the game that much, I can hardly look at rugby on the TV when I'm injured such is my frustration.

ormond lad wrote: »

Not that critical of referees and even less so now that ive started to do some refereeing myself
Owens and Rolland are not as good as they were.
Joubert is one of the best around.
Don't mind Jonny Lacey reffing most of the time. Took up reffing straight upon retirement from playing

That's great. I'm sure a thinking rugby man like yourself will be a great ref.

I like Owen's as he tends to try and let the players play a bit more and only really ping material offenses - he is also a brilliant communicator which is what reffing is really about as we are not always going to agree on some decisions. Lacey tries to explain everything which is good for players and fans.

The thing is as I said very very few can cut it at this level. The reason I said that because is I see some refs say at AIL level or below and when they go up they may not be as good as they were at the level they are use to. The same happens in every position at rugby. You might a brilliant number 7 at J2 but at J1 he struggles. I remember thinking I had pretty much mastered scrums at J3, J2 level and then getting burnt at a J1 game because the props were faster than me. Clancey looked brilliant before he went on the elite international panel; I don't think he has look as good at the elite level. Just my opinion. He looks like he is loosing control a bit.

Fans are pickey with a few decisions in a game but they forget that in Rugby there is almost two decisions per minute so out of 160 decisions if you get 155 right you've done pretty well.

rrpc wrote: »

Likewise. Poite has improved a lot over the last couple of years and got much more relaxed and affable and genuinely seems to enjoy his job. Even to the point of saying to players getting into a bit of aggro "We are enjoying this game, yes?".

Or to ROG: "We are not in Thomond Park Ronan"

Mostly, though he communicates well, gives warnings and doesn't go from zero to whistle like 'Silent Night' Barnes does.

To be honest, you've just hit on his weak points. Poite is notoriously bad for his communication. Especially with non-French speaking sides. The Best yellow card in the Welsh game is the most recent example. A yellow card for a 50/50 call just because he didn't know what to say to Best so he didn't say anything, and let him jackal the ball.

His communication is terrible, and it's simply from his grasp of the English language. On his day he can be a fantastic ref, keeps it simple and tends to punish the team going backwards a bit so it can make for exciting rugby. But his communication skills and his scrum ref'ing is terrible.

rrpc wrote: »

I'd forgotten about that incident tbh, but that aside, at least he keeps up with the warnings and there's no real surprises when he blows the whistle (exceptions aside).

Scrum reffing is pretty woeful all round, not just with Poite. It's such a lottery these days, I'm almost always flummoxed when teams go for scrums in lieu of penalties as any perceived strength can be immediately negated by the ref's interpretation.

To be fair to the refs, because they cant watch both sides of the scrum at once there is nearly always something funky going on, on the far side.

Tim Robbins wrote: »

It is because it is subjective. Someone might be offside and might have no impact on the game. Or someone might be offside and having no impact on the game but the ref just warned them about it at the last downtime. So the idea is the ref should be consistent to both teams and that way it's up to the ref to call it.

But if the blindside ref comes up to the scrum, then the other lines man can be in charge of the 10m line... That's how it's currently done anyway isn't it? Just that the blindside ref must remain on the touch line?

Stev_o wrote: »

Joubert is decent.

I'm sorry, I know it's unfair to judge someone so much on one game, and no one enjoys seeing the French hard done by more than me.....but.....

It was a World Cup final, there were about 5 blatent infringements right under his nose and he didn't have the balls to correctly give a penalty to France.

Barnes is very good. Definitely an elite ref.