Officiating of RWC needs to be questioned.

[The Jones Boy]

Wayne Barnes whistled Wales out of the Rugby World Cup.
His desire to let the staffers get away with hands in the ruck and persistent offside let them have advantages that were never granted to the opposing team.
He is by far the worst referee on the world circuit and after yet another appalling myopic performance he needs to be stood down and all his performances regarding policing the offside and hands in the ruck need to be seriously reviewed.
He is not International quality and he was the difference between Wales and South Africa.
Disgraceful.

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For the games sake you hope Owens and Joubert are the refs for the semis and final (obviously Joubert will be ruled out if SA make it). The games they ref are just more enjoyable, it feels like the refs have a lot less impact than when Barnes is reffing. I wouldn't out Barnes on the touch line for any games either cause you just know he will interject at some point for a pointless penalty

Both those refs are far far better than useless one eyed Barnes.
Owens is the stand out referee in world rugby.

 

[Durbanite]

Barnes reffed equally imo, i'd rather he reffed a semi than Poite or Garces. Nigel Owens has been great though, no way he doesn't get the final.

 

[The Jones Boy]

You're a saffer, he let you guys off everything, small wonder you liked his performance, but he was very poor in policing the defensive offside by the Boks and he let them get away with murder in the ruck.
Meanwhile he punished Wales constantly.
He's a one eyed ref and I hope he is gone from this tournament, his games are dull affairs dominated by HIM.

 

[Durbanite]

Did not say i liked his perfornance, it's just that I believe he was the same to both sides. Wales also had favourable calls (mostly first half). It's time for NH refs to learn how to properly police the breakdown (barring Owens ofc). My point is that Barnes has had real shockers (like '07) he just didn't have that kind of influence in yesterday's game, it could have gone either way.

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Did not say i liked his performance, it's just that I believe he was the same to both sides. Wales also had favourable calls (mostly first half). It's time for NH refs to learn how to properly police the breakdown (barring Owens ofc). My point is that Barnes has had real shockers (like '07) he just didn't have that kind of influence in yesterday's game, it could have gone either way.

 

[LukeFitzgerald]

Garces royally screwed Ireland over a few times. Now he wasn't horrific but the red card non decision was an utter disgrace. Ireland were on top with a lot of momentum going their way (think we were back to within 3 points) and the Argentine tight head headbutted Rory Best who was defenseless in a ruck. Peter O'Mahoney got a yellow card and Michael Hooper got a 1 week ban for not wrapping with their arms in a ruck so I can't see how a lack of binding and headbutting is only a penalty. He even went to the TMO and had 3 different angles of the incident. It's insane how he wasn't given a second yellow, never mind a straight red. That decision was massive in deciding the outcome of the game. The breakdown in general seemed like a free for all. He seemed to just flip a coin and award a penalty to a random team at ruck time (most of the time was Argentina).

Argentina deserved to win but I don't see how people aren't as incensed at that red card decision as people are with Joubert, considering Joubert couldn't have gone to the TMO.

 

[TheOvalBall]

I thought Barnes was fair, however i'm saying equal number of good and ball calls on both sides.

I am never one to criticize a referee, simply because they have such a tough job and they need to make a split second decision, under enormous pressure.

We are very cosy on our couches trying to point the finger, away from all that pressure.

 

[Tony Manx]

Garces royally screwed Ireland over a few times. Now he wasn't horrific but the red card non decision was an utter disgrace. Ireland were on top with a lot of momentum going their way (think we were back to within 3 points) and the Argentine tight head headbutted Rory Best who was defenseless in a ruck. Peter O'Mahoney got a yellow card and Michael Hooper got a 1 week ban for not wrapping with their arms in a ruck so I can't see how a lack of binding and headbutting is only a penalty. He even went to the TMO and had 3 different angles of the incident. It's insane how he wasn't given a second yellow, never mind a straight red. That decision was massive in deciding the outcome of the game. The breakdown in general seemed like a free for all. He seemed to just flip a coin and award a penalty to a random team at ruck time (most of the time was Argentina).

Argentina deserved to win but I don't see how people aren't as incensed at that red card decision as people are with Joubert, considering Joubert couldn't have gone to the TMO.

Can I just say that I saw it differently to you but, even so, even you must agree that it was a far more marginal call (taken by 4 officials) than the bad one taken by Joubert on his own.

 

[Amiga500]

If your unhappy with the refereeing, then take it up, become one and you can referee a test match with all that it brings.

Otherwise shut the f__k up.


[PS - I still foam at the mouth when I think of Garces sending off Jared Payne against Saracens a few years back. But I'd happily buy the man a pint and have a yarn if he walked into the pub. Its an impossible job that someone has to do.]

As has been said elsewhere (Campese), whoever signed off that World Rugby statement needs to be shot. Or fired first thing.

 

[AzaMatt]

There was a couple of marginal calls but he wasnt favouring either team for the wales game. there was one moment where warburton jackled perfectly leagally and was on it for a good 5 seconds and nothing was awarded and barnes didnt even say that he'd lost the contest or anything. that was bizzare but other than that there wasnt any alarming decisions i felt counted against either side

 

[LukeFitzgerald]

Can I just say that I saw it differently to you but, even so, even you must agree that it was a far more marginal call (taken by 4 officials) than the bad one taken by Joubert on his own.

No. It was not more marginal. It was as clear as day that it was a red. They spent a solid 90 seconds looking at the footage. Joubert had 2 seconds to make a decision which was far more marginal. So with 30 mins left in the match with Ireland down by 6 points after dominating possession and territory for the last 20-30mins and Argentina go down to 14 men, it is pretty clear that Ireland had an amazing shot to win. However, everyone is so short sighted that they judge Ireland's ability and performance on the last 10 mins and right them off completely. We didn't deserve to win but we deserved to have a far shot.

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If your unhappy with the refereeing, then take it up, become one and you can referee a test match with all that it brings.

Otherwise shut the f__k up.

That's a terrible attitude to have. I understand that referees will never get 100% of the calls correct but we should demand standards, and the standards at the moment are fairly shocking. That was a clear cut red card. Now if the referee didn't spot it, fair enough. But he looked at the footage for 90 seconds. The TMO is at fault also. We shouldn't shrug our shoulders and say "I'd like to see you do better" etc etc. If someone makes a mistake, we should find out how to make sure that that mistake won't happen again.

 

[ZeroTwo]

No. It was not more marginal. It was as clear as day that it was a red. They spent a solid 90 seconds looking at the footage. Joubert had 2 seconds to make a decision which was far more marginal. So with 30 mins left in the match with Ireland down by 6 points after dominating possession and territory for the last 20-30mins and Argentina go down to 14 men, it is pretty clear that Ireland had an amazing shot to win. However, everyone is so short sighted that they judge Ireland's ability and performance on the last 10 mins and right them off completely. We didn't deserve to win but we deserved to have a far shot.

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That's a terrible attitude to have. I understand that referees will never get 100% of the calls correct but we should demand standards, and the standards at the moment are fairly shocking. That was a clear cut red card. Now if the referee didn't spot it, fair enough. But he looked at the footage for 90 seconds. The TMO is at fault also. We shouldn't shrug our shoulders and say "I'd like to see you do better" etc etc. If someone makes a mistake, we should find out how to make sure that that mistake won't happen again.

I disagree with your take on the incident but I completely agree with how you analyse it.

If the standard of something we fund as fans isn't up to standard the response shouldn't be "Quit your day job or you can't complain". We're allowed to criticise bad decisions! Despite that I actually think this World Cup has had an excellent display of refereeing on the whole. Loads of good games the refs let play out and using TMO and their own judgement well.

I think both refs from the Ireland and Scotland game had actually REALLY good games if there's only 2-3 issues in each. Saying otherwise I think is a bit of a disservice to how hard it is to be a referee. We don't massacre players for dropping the ball despite the fact that they're professionals. There will always be mistakes by everyone and so lets react like rugby fans by moaning for a few days then forgetting all about it when your team plays again!

 

[OverGore]

A good ref is one u forgot about when you think back about the game.

 

[j'nuh]

Who would actually want to be a referee? The amount of years you have to put in casually refereeing the game until you get given a chance professionally, and the little money you get from such high level refereeing, and the amount of stick you get from fans, and the little praise you get, is just not worth it. We deserve the refereeing we get, because we don't give them the respect they deserve.

And I agree with Amiga. World Rugby undermining Joubert is one of the worst things I have seen them do; publicly shaming your employees is the worst. By all means, review his game and drop him from test match rugby if he is underperforming, but do it quietly.

 

[munstermuffin]

Have watched extended highlights again of all 4 QFs and here's my neutral opinion (except for Irish game)

Barnes was very consistent and fair. People may say he was wrong but he communicated the way he saw things and was consistent. Wales lacked discipline at times and temptation was too much.

Owens. Had an armchair ride but any little flare up he just took it in let it calm and moved on. Overall like Barnes a good and consistent performance.

Garces I thought was fair. He will be questioned over failing to send off prop for 2nd yellow BUT to be fair he asked TMO "we have to be 100%" and the fact prop got arm binded before contact saved him. People then asked me included why give a pen for it? Fact is the pen wasn't actually for that offence. Overall though I thought he was fair and good.

Joubert was the villain of the weekend. He's been poor in a few games this year and unfortunately his error influenced game. But it is over now it was a bad game and I'm sure he hurting enough as I'm sure like most top refs his biggest critic is himself. The biggest error was running from the field though. He should've just spoke and backed his decision right or wrong.

 

[OverGore]

Yes this is despicable. Old schmucks everywhere prefer to throw one under the bus instead of thinking about their own responsibilities.

 

[ABs2011]

The dude that started this thread with gusto and promises of proving his point seems to have deserted us I was looking forward to the proof. You still around my man?

 

[smartcooky]

The dude that started this thread with gusto and promises of proving his point seems to have deserted us I was looking forward to the proof. You still around my man?

I guess dogdyticker's ticker didn't survive the Aussie quarter-final.

Either that, or the fact that his team is still in the RWC thanks only to a dodgy call by the referee has yanked the rug out from under his feet.

 

[ABs2011]

I guess dogdyticker's ticker didn't survive the Aussie quarter-final.

Either that, or the fact that his team is still in the RWC thanks only to a dodgy call by the referee has yanked the rug out from under his feet.

Haha, yeah perhaps the latter, although I hear my (gambling) self echoing in his initial comments and given he doesnt appear to have any ties to any of the teams in question I think there is a high probability he gambled on the match and lost. Seriously the amount of times I have felt I lost bets due to the way the game was reffed is countless!

 

[Amiga500]

That's a terrible attitude to have. I understand that referees will never get 100% of the calls correct but we should demand standards, and the standards at the moment are fairly shocking. That was a clear cut red card. Now if the referee didn't spot it, fair enough. But he looked at the footage for 90 seconds. The TMO is at fault also. We shouldn't shrug our shoulders and say "I'd like to see you do better" etc etc. If someone makes a mistake, we should find out how to make sure that that mistake won't happen again.

********.

System improvements are not made by deriding individuals so don't dare try and dress up attacks on the referee as such.

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

How much do you guess a referee at this level makes a year? Is there much difference between a group stage ref and a knock-out stage ref? Ballpark, sponsors included.

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Nvm, just found it.

Interesting to benchmark players' salary to ref's one when the shortage for good ones appears to be coming from the latter.