Is it too early to start moaning about the refereeing?

[old-n-slo-2nd-row]

First four matches have all featured some pretty poor calls and strange interpretations if you ask me. There is nothing as frustrating as trying to watch a match that is being dominated by the man in the middle. And this AB v SA game has me screaming! FFS!

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Not at all. Garces today was abysmal. Sick to my stomach, have to feel for the saffers.

[Mr Mwenda]

I hope that it doesn"t spoil the spectacle but my enthusiasm is increasingly affected by the reffing. It's always been random but i increasingly don't even understand what is going on. Like when does the tmo pipe up? Why is feeding in the scrums allowed? Why are people able to hokey cokey round mauls sometimes and not others?

[switchskier]

Nah, it's been a great mornings rugby and no intention of letting anything spoil it.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Nah, it's been a great mornings rugby and no intention of letting anything spoil it.

You would be fuming if we were on the end of that Garces performance and you know it.

[Renniks]

Garces - awful

The missed red card in today's first game
And definite yellow, if not red, in yesterday's game

It's been a poor start in terms of decision making!

[fivepointer]

I try not to get too hung up about refereeing decisions.
Any game, under any ref will feature some calls that are highly marginal and some that are wildly wrong. I can live with refs making errors as long as there is some consistency.
Certain things really do irritate me, like the failure to properly police the backfoot offside line, which is a really easy thing for officials to do, or failing to recognise that a player is off his feet if most of his weight is supported by his upper body.
You'll never get perfection no matter who is reffing. The game is far too quick and complex with refs having to make instant decisions to several things going on at once. Its not easy.

[old-n-slo-2nd-row]

But it's the consistency that is really pissing me off. Not just from one match/ref to the other but by the same ref within a match. Offside, off foot turnovers, high tackes, and scrums have been very inconsistent

[Peej]

If the Workd Cup is the pinnacle of rugby, it seems it might also be the zenith of terrible refereeing. The Hodge tackle this morning beggars belief

[Mikey Brown]

But it's the consistency that is really pissing me off. Not just from one match/ref to the other but by the same ref within a match. Offside, off foot turnovers, high tackes, and scrums have been very inconsistent

Aye. Can’t even remember which game it was now but everyone had been offside all match and then suddenly one gets called quite late in the game when things are pretty close. You can understand the players feeing a bit pissed there, even if it was the correct call.

[fivepointer]

If the Workd Cup is the pinnacle of rugby, it seems it might also be the zenith of terrible refereeing. The Hodge tackle this morning beggars belief

Didnt see that live but having now seen it i'd say that was a straight red all day. Incredible that it didnt receive the correct sanction.

[Digby]

I don't think any game was dominated by the ref, and the ref wasn't responsible for any result. Not on balance a bad opening series of games

[Timbo]

On balance of probability Hodges shoulder hit Yato’s head. However, there’s no angle I’ve seen that actually shows his shoulder connecting with Yato’s head. I don’t know what the standard of proof is, but sort of feel that if we’re sending people off and banning them we need to be 100% sure and no less.

[Puja]

I don't think any game was dominated by the ref, and the ref wasn't responsible for any result. Not on balance a bad opening series of games

I would say Reece Hodge ending the game of Fiji's best player with a shoulder to the head and getting away scott-free had something of an influence.

Puja

[Adam_P]

I don't think any game was dominated by the ref, and the ref wasn't responsible for any result. Not on balance a bad opening series of games

I would say Reece Hodge ending the game of Fiji's best player with a shoulder to the head and getting away scott-free had something of an influence.

Puja

100% agree, along with turning a blind eye to Australia coming in at the side of rucks blatantly all game. One instance from Hooper was practically from Fiji's side of the ruck

[Adam_P]

On balance of probability Hodges shoulder hit Yato’s head. However, there’s no angle I’ve seen that actually shows his shoulder connecting with Yato’s head. I don’t know what the standard of proof is, but sort of feel that if we’re sending people off and banning them we need to be 100% sure and no less.

This looks fairly conclusive, no?

[Digby]

I don't think any game was dominated by the ref, and the ref wasn't responsible for any result. Not on balance a bad opening series of games

I would say Reece Hodge ending the game of Fiji's best player with a shoulder to the head and getting away scott-free had something of an influence.

Puja

It didn't impact their woeful kicking game or set piece ineptness. And anyway, sometimes poop happens

[Stom]

The ref in the France Argentina game was also poor with his constant urge to reset scrums. At least Nigel Owens just let the game go when the scrum collapsed. After a couple of times, the scrum mysteriously started to stay up...

[Danno]

I don't think any game was dominated by the ref, and the ref wasn't responsible for any result. Not on balance a bad opening series of games

I would say Reece Hodge ending the game of Fiji's best player with a shoulder to the head and getting away scott-free had something of an influence.

Puja

It didn't impact their woeful kicking game or set piece ineptness. And anyway, sometimes poop happens

Straw, meet man, time to get together and argue.

[Mellsblue]

[16th man]

Having watched the game on catch up last night, I'm glad I'm not on my own with being a bit bemused by Garces. At least one of the scrum pens for the ABs went completely the wrong way, and several of the resets were penalties for the Boks too. The first couple of Springbok line out mauls were stalled by a couple of ABs just stepping through the line out on the jumpers way down and attacking it from the SA side. Then there were the obvious holding on none penalties.

He really wasn't helped by his video assistant either:

[Adam_P]

Hodge has now been cited for the tackle on Yato. Fat lot of good that does Fiji

[16th man]

The Irish have only been onside at 2 or 3 rucks so far.

There's going to be a few sides who are going to struggle with their defensive systems if the res start actually doing their jobs on the offside line.

[twitchy]

[16th man]

In a sport with a sane disciplinary process, that would be Furlong missing at least the next game.