Much as we at rucked.com love our rugby, sometimes it can be, well, just a little bit rubbish… 
No.4 – Television Match Officials
It should have been brilliant, it should have been the forward-thinking step that made everyone look at rugby union and think: ‘bloody hell, what a forward-thinking step in a forward-thinking sport – what forward-thinking chaps they are in rugby’. Even football, with its squillions and squillions and squillions of cash and vaults full of gold bars, hadn’t managed been able to get its house in order to introduce it. And yet here was little ol’ rugby union, a fledgling in the world of professional sport and it had a Television Match Official. Or TMO as we in the industry like to refer to them, rather rubbishly. When, that is, we’re not calling them by other not quite so flattering names. The introduction of the video referee was supposed to stop those human errors leading to precious tries being awarded to undeserving teams.
Unfortunately, while it’s certainly cleared up any doubt over ‘foot-in-touch’ decisions, it’s also turned the referees into cowards, afraid to give tries even if every natural instinct and common sense within their being tells them a try should be given. And, whatever anyone says, having the decision to award a try delayed by going to the TMO, always takes something away from the score. If a 20m rumble to the tryline finally makes it across the whitewash and collapses, the burst of joy a supporter feels evaporates the second the ref draws that square in the air. Even if he does end up giving it, the moment is gone. And, for sides in the World Cup that don’t score many tries, those moments are few and far between. It seems to be getting to the stage when, unless your player touches down totally unopposed having raced at least 20m beyond the last defender, a try will be sent upstairs. A push-over try from a lineout? Up it goes. Three men driving over and just one little defender in the way? Up it goes. A winger diving over with anything less than two metres between him and the touchline? Up it goes. If we go back to the old school days and lose the TMO, then we’d obviously have to stop action replays on the big screens too, for fear of every referee getting lynched. A small price to pay I know. So, as with every good column, we have to come to a solution. And here it is. Use common sense. If a side is getting tonked by 60 points and they manage to cross the line for the first five points, let them have it. None of this ‘can you give me any reason not to award the try’ bollocks, just save us five minutes of our lives and award the try. The scorers are happy, the neutrals are happy, even those who have conceded it don’t care too much as they’ve already run away with the game, and the rest of us get five minutes of our lives back to do with as we wish. Boil an egg, down a pint, have sex (and a post-coital smoke)… the options are endless. Referees: just say no to TMOs. Go on, grow a pair…
