Six Nations 2023 - Ireland v France Match Thread, Sat 11th Feb, KO 2:15PM - TV: RTÉ2, ITV, France2

The reaction of the AR when Barnes said it was a YC offence is enough to show that he thought Barnes got it badly wrong.

Oh dear, the Oracle has spoken. 😁

Is he actually though? Or is that just something that is said, but isn't really true? He used to be terrible and he's much improved from the level he was at when he was younger, but that improvement is from a very low starting point. I think that improvement leads to him being overrated.

Yesterday, for the Herring incident, he had the TMO and the AR clearly trying to guide him to the correct decision, but he ignored them, went off in his own direction and made a complete mess of the decision as a result. That's not the mark of a good ref, a good ref would take a minute, consult with the other officials and get the call right as a result.

This isn't some split second in-play incident. He had all the time and assistance he needed, with the clock stopped, to get the call right. And he messed it up.

Looks like Atonio is going to be cited alright. I'm with Former Former Former in the view that the protocols need updating. The initial contact with the upper chest a split second before the contact with the head is an area that needs to be covered. Because it's not going to absorb enough of the force to make it a truly indirect contact according to the letter of the law. Barnes missed the opportunity to look at the replay at normal speed. It actually surprised me that the TMO didn't show him a normal speed replay before he made his decision. It may well have changed his mind.

You probably need to read the entire process document. The section above is for the processes, there's also a section on context. The second paragraph explicitly excludes injuries or HIAs and concentrates on the actions.

^^^^^^^^

Won't somebody think of the children!!

That post is bordering on hysteria. It probably should have been a red but I can see how and why Barnes gave a yellow. Tell me, were you this wound up and concerned for player safety when Porter broke Rettallick's cheek bone in the summer with a similar hit?

Ah yeah I have heard that, I just mean that they should have worked out beforehand that it means I think you’ve got this wrong.

it was obvious very early in the review that he had made up his mind it wasn’t going to be a red and said words that came to that conclusion. He made no attempt to dip into a tackle position he was at best going to hit chest to chest or shoulder to chest but made no attempt to bend over at all.

We even heard it on Saturday. Barnes made his decision and went through his judgement and the tmo came in and said this is the best angle of the contact.

I agree all day long it should have been a red.

That said I've symapthy for the referrees in this situation, like the players there's adrenalin, not wanting to ruin the spectle etc etc. Having seen Alain Roland present after he'd retired from the pitch at a corporate gig about decision making under pressure it's clear they take the job very seriously and review to apply learnings to the next game.

What I do have a problem with is the cult of the referre that now exists in rugby. It started with Steve Walsh and Nigel and now both Barnes/Pearce have developed a media and social media presence. Barnes out with the turtles trying to explain his decision only adds to the controversy, I think he was interviewed during the week and he said Sexton was the hardest player to referee. They should be like a judge - make a decision for good or bad, leave it at that and move on. The appeals/citing process can take care of the rest.

Barnes out with the turtles trying to explain his decision only adds to the controversy

The video was posted before the game. You owe Wayne Barnes an apology.

I think it should have been red but i can understand where Barnes came about to get a decision for what he did do. I dont think there is any cult of referee in rugby and its natural with everything else with media coverage having improved that the coverage the officials get has increased exponentially.

I dont think barnes explaining reasoning behind decisions in some areas of the game is a bad thing as huge numbers of people dont have a clue about certain areas of the game especially with the constant law amendments/trials/applications..

Antonio has been cited apparently

I actually quite like the fact there are refs in the game with a personality and a willingness to go in front of the camera to talk about decisions, processes and the pressure. I think it's great and something that appears to be fairly unique to rugby.

I do agree that with Steve Walsh it got out of control. I actually knew him back in NZ through another sport and I was really happy for him when he first came on the scene as he was a good, young ref who was very fit and generally refereed a good game. However the celebrity crap did start to take over and the bigger his ego got, the worse his performances went. I don't see that with any current or recently retired refs.