Rugby World Cup 2015: TMO blights England v Fiji match as stop start game frustrates fans

LIBERAL and, often, unnecessary use of video replays to check on-field decisions stifles the flow of the game as England open World Cup with a win over Fiji.

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AT LAST the wait was over. After the protracted build up and phony wars that presage any major sporting tournament these days, the actual rugby finally started.

Then it stopped for a bit. And started again. Then stopped. Started. Then another break with elite sportsmen standing around, waiting, the crowd confused, and Shaun Veldsman rather than Mike Brown taking centre stage.

Shaun who, you are probably asking, and with good cause. Veldsman was the evening’s Television Match Official (TMO). And if you didn’t recognise the name, anyone watching the opening match of the 2015 Rugby World Cup surely now knows his work. More than they would have liked.

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He got involved early, when two barely worthy incidents were referred upstairs. First, Akapusi Qera lifted England’s Jonny May up by one leg, quickly sensing the potential danger and changing his approach to see his opponent harmlessly returned to the Twickenham turf.

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The South African referee, Jaco Peyper, was well placed and saw it clearly, deeming no action needed to be taken. Veldsman, from his lofty position in front of a TV monitor, disagreed and communicated that a penalty was to be awarded. England kicked to the corner, which set up a maul that led to a penalty try.

Not long later Fiji lock Api Ratuniyarawa entered the ruck with physicality but little in the way of excessive malice. Once again Peyper, on the spot, saw nothing untoward. Again, Veldsman disagreed and the game was held up while replay after replay was analysed, looking for an infringement.

It was a pattern of stoppage and boredom and over officious checking, double and triple checking.

No one wants to see dangerous play, of course. And the video system is there to pick up any errors or moments of unsightedness by the on-field official — an aid for the referee not a schoolmasterly Big Brother figure.

Those tough try or no try calls are helped enormously by technology ensuring the right decision is made. Rugby is better and fairer for it.

But after the fireworks and fanfare of this much anticipated game, the constant meddling robbed the contest of momentum and flow. The crowd were visibly and audibly bored and frustrated by it all.

Even when the TMO made a worthwhile (if slightly party pooping) intervention its validity was undermined by a laboured execution.

Nikola Matawalu looked to have scored a cracker of a solo try to light up the match and tournament. Only he hadn’t, losing control of the ball in the final moment. TMO was right to correct the decision. But even as everyone at home and in the stadium saw what had happened on the first replay, they still had to watch it a dozen or so times.

And so it went on. Nemani Nadolo caught a high ball cleanly for a legitimate, uncontentious try. But still we went upstairs, just to be sure. Tom Wood caught Leone Nakarawa around the neck trying to clear him out. The referee didn’t see it. If he had he would have given a penalty, and so TMO’s intervention was therefore telling. But was it really worthy of holding up the game? Does every single issue need to be run through the technology?

As well as holding up the flow of the match, excessive use of TMO also serves to undermine the match referee. He is left second guessing himself, or, worse, using the definitive all seeing eye upstairs as a crutch to lean on, absolving him of making decisions in the first place.

None of this changed the result, of course. But it did lessen the experience for fans both at home and in the stadium. TV replays are fine for making sure the big calls are made right when there is sufficient doubt. But for the sake of the tournament as a big show, spectacle really ought not be sacrificed in pursuit of absolute accuracy of the smallest minutia of the battle. Though perhaps we need a second or third opinion on that, too.

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Originally published as Rugby World Cup 2015: TMO blights England v Fiji match as stop start game frustrates fans