THERE were Tests in Japan, Fiji, New Zealand, South Africa, Wales, Canada, Lithuania and Argentina over the weekend, plus Pacific Nations Cup matches, Churchill Cup matches, a FIRA European Championship contest (Lithuania 40 - Norway 9) and the IRB Junior World Championship.
These matches were played under the "old laws" of rugby rather than with the experimental law variations (ELVs). Watching many of them on pay TV was like watching black-and-white television before colour television came in. The comparison is valid because in colour what was on the screen was essentially what was shown before, but made more vivid and interesting.
The game is essentially the same under the ELVs, but they, as we saw in the Super 14 tournament, allow for more of the best aspects of play. In other words, more real rugby and less non-rugby - the slow forward flops and a multitude of full-arm penalties for contestable "offences".
In the New Zealand Maori's 20-9 win over Tonga there were 29 full-arm penalties. The laws allow for 40 seconds a penalty. In a game with lots of full-arm penalties a sizeable chunk of playing time, up to 10 minutes, can be taken out of the match.
In Australia A's 42-21 win over Japan, the Australians had two players sin-binned at the same time, which allowed Japan back into the match. This highlighted the problem of having the full-arm penalty as the referee's only option, with many incidents to rule on at the ruck and maul. The only fallback for a referee when he can't get the control he wants at the ruck and maul is the nuclear option of sending off players.
Both these game were, in fact, well refereed. It was the penalty system that was at fault, not the referees. The same criticism of the system and not the referee applied in South Africa's 43-17 victory over Wales in Bloemfontein. English referee Dave Pearson correctly gave five penalties within kicking range to the Springboks in the first half. Butch James duly kicked them all and the Springboks were well on their way to a most convincing victory over the Six Nations champions.
The inimitable Stephen Jones, an obsessive critic of the ELVs, made this curious comment in his summary of the Test: "There must be an urgent meeting with officials. Dave Pearson is an English referee but it is quite remarkable how easily the South Africans seemed to get along with him, whereas the Welsh were whistled almost out of the game at every breakdown."
Last week the IRB issued a special instruction to referees to be vigilant about defending teams slowing down the ball at the tackle. Pearson refereed accurately in penalising Wales for what might be called the "European disease" of throwing players across the wrong side of a ruck and holding on to the ball at the tackle. In New Zealand, in the driving rain, wind and bitter cold, another English referee, Chris White, allowed Ireland to slow down the rucks using the European disease tactics. The All Blacks won the penalty count 9-8, but Ireland's relatively high penalty count kept them in a Test in which they were out-classed in every facet of the match.
Ireland will play the Wallabies on Saturday night inside the Telstra Dome at Melbourne. They were undoubtedly helped by vile conditions that made back play almost impossible at Wellington, although Ireland scored a slick try from a blindside raid and the All Blacks two superb tries from about 40 metres out from set pieces. Ireland do not have a strong scrum to pressure the Wallabies at their weakest point. So, much like the thrashing handed out to Wales by the Springboks on a dry field, it's hard to go past a comfortable Wallabies victory in Robbie Deans's first game as coach.
