Queensland Reds captain James Horwill has criticised the growing influence of television officials on the game after a controversial decision ensured his side lost their sixth successive Super Rugby match on Saturday.
Reds forward Ed O’Donoghue was sent off for eye gouging in the last minute of his side’s 30-27 loss to the Melbourne Rebels, but only after television official Steve Lescinski told referee Steve Walsh to review the incident after play had moved downfield.
SuperSport
“In the end, once again we were robbed by a stupid refereeing decision,” a furious Horwill said in a televised interview after Rebels fullback Jason Woodward kicked the penalty to seal victory.
“I have played more than 150 games of professional rugby and I have never ever ever seen that happen before – ever,” Horwill later told reporters.
“It’s getting beyond a joke. It’s ruining the spectacle that Super Rugby is.”
“Super Rugby has always been about expansive rugby but it’s going out of the game because too much of the game is being slowed down to look back (at incidents).”
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51PPabf4wdg[/youtube]
Horwill was particularly incensed that Lescinski had intervened after Walsh had already dealt with the confrontation between O’Donoghue and Rebels captain Scott Higginbotham that had occurred in the Reds’ territory.
Walsh penalised Rebels flanker Sean McMahon for joining the confrontation and the Reds were on attack when Lescinski asked Walsh to take another look at the incident, though the New Zealander appeared perplexed as to why he had been drawn back to it after play had moved on.
Television replays showed O’Donoghue appearing to make contact with Higginbotham’s eyes and Walsh took the advice of Lescinski to issue a red card.
Woodward then slotted the resulting penalty to give the Melbourne side the 30-27 win and first victory over the Reds in Super Rugby.
Horwill said he felt that O’Donoghue had been reacting to being headbutted by Higginbotham but had not intended to make contact with his eyes.
“You should judge on both (incidents) or you shouldn’t judge on either,” he said. “Higgers hasn’t got a scratch on him.”
“From my experiences of eye-gouging there is a mark.”
O’Donoghue’s red card was not the only one issued following the intervention of the television official on Saturday. Sharks flanker Jean Desyel was also sent off for stamping on the face of Canterbury Crusaders’ Jordan Taufua in Christchurch.
The 29-year-old Deysel was banished after referee Rohan Hoffman had been alerted to a possible off-the-ball incident he had not seen.
Television showed Taufua in the background lying prone and holding his jaw while play carried on in front of him.
Footage showed Deysel stamped on Taufua’s face, which prompted Hoffman to send him off.
Both players face a judicial hearing.
If my face also looked like an upside-down donkey’s arse, I would also be upset!
There was an Eye-gouge, it was dealt with properly… it was serious… it was Red Carded and penalised… end of story. It was deserved!
To me it seems Horwill has no memory at all. No 19 O’donder kept on playing after the whistle was blown and most importantly, took the law into his own hands. When a player took the law into his own hands that incident is dealt with separately. It usually ends with a reversed penalty.
About two years ago in the match between SA and Argentina, Jean de Villiers, when the ref told him it can be dealt with after the match, responded he wants the advantage now. The TMO remembered this, Horwill not.
For those with memory, in 2009 Schalck Burger got 8 weeks which was accidental. Yesterday it was deliberate.
@ dWeePer:
Since when was consistency a feature of the way the laws of our game are applied 🙄
@ dWeePer: Hi. Well yes. There is a fine line between accidental and deliberate and that can be debated forever. But…..if its dangerous then….. off you go. Period. So I agree. Deysel deserved the maximum sanction. And so did the Reds player. Dirty play is so unnecessary.
@ Bullscot: Consistency is always going to be contentious. To achieve consistency you need a robot. All emotion stripped out. These guys are human – make mistakes. Cannot possibly see everything. And they are influenced by things outside of what is being played out on the paddock. Home crowd pressure for example. Next time, watch the ref carefully as opposed to what we normally do(watch the play). He hops around the place trying to position himself to see what’s best going on. But he can’t be everywhere and maybe he ‘hops’ the wrong way and misses a beat. Hence the new approach in having four people controlling the game. But there are limitations. The oke in the middle is still required to make the calls on the hop. And does. They sometimes get it wrong. Much to our ire because we sometimes have a better view.
@ Tassies:
#5 Hi Tassies (is that for small suitcases or the wine? 😆 ) no it was more the reference to the length of sentence that Schalk Burger got as a benchmark that I was referring to.
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