Gonzalo Quesada’s rant after his Italian side lost to the All Blacks on Saturday night probably garnered a lot of sympathy from neutral observers.
After all, his team had gone to Wellington and fronted up, only to have some very strange decisions go against them, and all for the home team.
Now, anyone who has toured New Zealand will know that is nothing new, but what has happened behind the scenes regarding teams and referees may surprise you, as World Rugby has moved swiftly to try and curb coaching influence on matching officials, and not always with the result that they were hoping for.
To be fair, we can all see why team officials shouldn’t be allowed to have a full go at referees and what it does for the game, and that isn’t under dispute.
But since the frustration of Rassie Erasmus’ famous video in the 2021 British and Irish Lions series a few years ago, World Rugby has agreed to get a protocol in place that allows coaches to question decisions in an organised setting so that they can get feedback.
In the past, it was up to referees to give this feedback if and when they chose, and this was the basis of Erasmus’ frustration during the Lions’ series, for which he was banned as a result.
And if coaches had an issue they wanted to raise with the referees, they would raise it through a meeting with the referees before the time.
Some coaches did this, but some saw it as a waste of time, and declined to do it. And that was their choice.
CHANGED PROTOCOLS
After Erasmus’ video, the protocols were changed whereby a system was put in place where referees would receive clips back from coaches about decisions they wanted clarity on, or wanted to be clear about.
Now there is a system where coaches can only meet with referees if the opposing coach agrees and is present, which is unlikely to happen at all before games, and if - after the game - a coach wants to raise some decisions for clarity - he has to do it with only six clips maximum, and now on a system where all coaches can see what the coaches are raising.
The fact that coaches can’t get clarity from a referee before a game, or highlight certain things often leads to frustration, and the lack of a system where these can be sorted out is probably what led to Quesada’s salvo on the ref after the All Blacks game.
But I will let Rassie explain it better, and why coaches don’t necessarily think the new system is a better one for all involved.
“There are new protocols - it's been well communicated to us - but we were not part of the meeting where they changed it,” Erasmus said.
CAN’T COMMUNICATE DIRECTLY
“You can't communicate to the match officials directly anymore. You can't have a meeting with the match officials before the game. Let me explain it because I don’t think it is a state secret.
“How it works is the the referee on the day would email you and say do you guys want a meeting with the referee? Now if both coaches don't say yes then you don't have a meeting and if you if both coaches do say yes then you have a meeting together with the referee now.
“We haven't had a meeting with the referee - because other coaches haven't said yes so that's what is new.”
Erasmus added that he doesn’t understand World Rugby’s logic behind the move either.
“I don't 100 per cent understand the logic behind it. I am not criticising them - of course they communicated that to us.
“The other interesting one is if you have any queries, you can only send in six comments on clips from the game. You know back in the days when I sent a video, which was very long, it was (seen in a certain way). You can now only send in six comments and load it up so that everybody sees it anywhere now.
ALL COACHES AND REFEREES SEE POINTS RAISED
“All the other coaches see it, the referees see it, so it is almost impossible to criticise (or raise things) about a referee. If you have, say, 10 or 12 things that bothers you from past games, or in a game that is coming up, you either have to sit with the other (opposing) coach and the referee.
“Or you have to put it on the system where the other coaches and the referees see it. You have to publish it and now everybody sees it.
“I know Gonzalo Quesada very well and he is a really good guy and Italy are definitely a team that I thought are on the up. He is probably a bit frustrated with that - I can’t talk for him but there has been a protocol change, and to be honest, I’m not sure it is bettering our game, even though it has been well-communicated.”
It’s easy to understand why coaches won’t want this. If they show all their cards about what they are concerned about before a game with the other coach listening, it is easy to counter, as is any clip they put on the system.
Or you can have a situation where two coaches end up arguing in front of a referee, which also defeats the purpose of a meeting with the referee.
ARE THE MEETINGS A WASTE OF TIME?
Some coaches feel the meetings with referees are a waste of time, but to be fair, they do provide some clarity on how referees see different aspects of the game, and often set out boundaries for coaches as well as to what the referee will allow and what not.
Rugby is such a complicated game with over 200 laws that the referees need to implement, that often referees are encouraged to concentrate on certain aspects and let others go. That frustration, or the lack of clarity can lead to more criticism of referees from coaches and would be counter-productive for World Rugby.
The governing body believes that transparency is good for all, and it is understandable as they want to protect match officials. But the law of unintended consequences tells us that they can create new, more difficult problems, more distrust and a total different outlook than what they envisaged.
Not everybody will agree with all refereeing calls and that is fine, but the system needs to be fair for coaches to raise issues in private and have answers that they can use to better their teams. This isn’t just about South Africa but for every international coach out there.
When that didn’t happen it led to Erasmus’ infamous video that caused so much angst across the rugby world.
One can only hope World Rugby has learnt the lessons from those days, because a return to coaches openly criticising referees in frustration because their concerns aren’t raised behind the scenes would benefit nobody.