The Role of the TMO in Rugby Union

In recent times the role of the TMO has come under question, especially after the Romain Poite incident as well as the last two WP games where they almost lost the games due to bad TMO decisions. So I decided to write about it giving you the current laws, and how I think it could be bettered.

You would think that with two assistant referees on the side of the field and the benefit of slow motion replays and the TMO up in the stands, there is no reason why an official should make a mistake, however week after week we are seeing some dreadful decisions being made.
Currently TMO’s can only rule on exactly what the referee asks them (in most unions they can only be asked about events in-goal or immediately before entering in-goal and in recent times, about incident of foul play). This is where my view differs, I feel that if a mistake has been made by the ref, any of the officials on the field or the TMO may correct him. If the ref does go to the TMO and does not ask the right question, the TMO should be able to correct him. There is no reason for a bad call to be made just because the ref didn’t word his question correctly.

Some might say that this slowing down the game, and that we’re moving closer to NFL, where games are up to 4 hours long. But would you rather have a game that’s a bit slower, with most of the decisions being correct or would you have the game as it is today; filled with errors that could possibly ruin the game and at the end of the day decide the course of the match. I believe the slower option is the way to go. The best team on the day should win, not the team that was lucky enough to have all the calls go their way.

Referees are under tremendous pressure, they are often influenced by home crowds and are therefore sometimes unable to handle highly charged situations. During my studies at Stellenbosch University I played rugby for a koshuis side in the Sauer Cup. During this time they were experimenting with the rugby laws, one of these being that of using two referees on the field and two assistant referees (touch judges). One man can no longer officiate a game of rugby. It has become too complex, with too much riding on it. Yes, touch judges are now called assistant referees, but they don’t really seem to come into play much as they as they are so far away from most of the action. Having another ref on the field could change things, with each looking after a half of the field divided by an imaginary line splitting the goal posts on either end of the field. Each would need to agree on the other’s call, and if in disagreement with each other, they would call in the TMO. This would also be a good way to keep an eye on both sides of the scrum, and both sets of offside lines.

Thereby minimising mistakes and taking away the power of a ref to change the outcome of a game. The fact that one man’s interpretation of the laws can have such a direct bearing on a match result is probably the biggest problem facing the sport today. Share your view and opinions on the topic as I’m sure there are many different ideas and opinions out there.