Owen Doyle: For the good of the Lions tour, referees need to stop ignoring the rules of rugby

Irish Times

5 days ago

When
Ronan O'Gara
and Will Greenwood are right, and the match officials are wrong, it doesn't say much for the latter.
My view is that of course it was a foul blow to the head of
Mack Hansen
. Waratahs' Fergus Lee-Warner was the guilty party just moments before teammate Darby Lancaster touched down in the corner. Referee Paul Williams and all of his supporting cast reviewed the incident. Their deliberations concluded that it was not dangerous play. The try stood when, clearly, it shouldn't have.
It was a poor
Lions
performance in Sydney. Well, okay, maybe a bit better than that, but not by much. When
Tadhg Beirne
– strangely out of sorts – dropped a pass in the last minute, it mirrored what had gone on all day. I am referring to all the handling errors. Add that to being skinned at the breakdown and the 'quietly resolved'
Joe Schmidt
might just be thinking that this is a winnable series. Lions coach
Andy Farrell
spoke afterwards of the need to get out of the blocks faster and he is so right.
Most of all, the performance was lacking intensity, lacking the ferocious physicality which must accompany them into the Test arena. It has to change or Schmidt could well have his day in the sun. The exception was the scrum, where the Lions pummelled the home team. Penalty after penalty was won, with their three tries originating from lineout mauls which followed. But, heck, is that what these Lions are about? Why not show belief, ambition and release the backs? With Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones in fine fettle, it bordered on the criminal.
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The Tests will be refereed by Ben O'Keeffe, Andrea Piardi and Nika Amashukeli. It is important to know whether or not they'll referee the same way as the New Zealand men have done so far. The game 'down south' (and to a lesser degree up here) sees referees ignoring blatant side entries and sealing off the ball at the tackle-breakdown. To some extent, the Lions joined in, so real clarity is needed here from World Rugby. Frenchman Pierre Brousset will handle
the Brumbies match
and both teams will want him to produce his A-game, which he certainly didn't in Australia v Fiji.
French referee Pierre Brousset during the Champions Cup semi-final between Leinster and Northampton in May. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho
Against both Queensland and the Waratahs, scrum problems returned. There is a serious inconsistency in whether the referee penalises collapses immediately or resets it; plays on with no advantage, or plays on with advantage. Scrum penalty decisions, often questionable, have far too much influence on results.
The lineout shenanigans,
outlined here last week
, continued. The very first throw of the match was as crooked as the proverbial dog's hind leg and was right in front of Williams. But he allowed play to continue until his TMO tipped him off.
Throw-ins directly to the front man were one apiece, neither noticed by any official. Each team had a try correctly ruled out following TMO intervention. On both occasions a lifter inserted himself in front of the catcher as the maul formed – blatant obstruction. It's harder to pick up by the referee at ground level than you might think, but with a little awareness it is very doable.
However, it's difficult not to be suspicious that some refs are leaving these decisions, including the throw-ins, to the TMO. So much is going to, or coming from the TMO, that their input is now becoming too close to dominating proceedings.
Owen Farrell
and that wonderful Lions player of yore, the never-to-be-forgotten Belvederian Tony O'Reilly, have something in common. Both were 33 years of age when they received late call-ups to perform at the high end of the game. O'Reilly's amazing try-scoring exploits still stand as a Lions record: six tries in 10 tests, 38 in all tour matches.
Owen Farrell of the British and Irish Lions looks on during last Saturday's match against Waratahs in Sydney. Photograph:He was playing for London Irish when recalled to the Ireland team in 1970, against England at Twickenham, after a seven-year break. Unsurprisingly, it didn't work out. O'Reilly's chauffeur then returned him to his day job of leading the Heinz corporation, with some soft insults ringing in his years. 'Beans means has-beens', and 'you really landed in the soup this time' were as nasty as things got in those days.
Farrell stood down from Test rugby after the 2023 Rugby World Cup, departing for Paris to play for Racing 92, on a tip-top financial deal. It was an unfortunate failure, due both to injury and a dip in form. Then, in early May this year, he suffered a concussion against Lyon in the Challenge Cup semi-final. He has not played since. It's impossible to think of any other player with a similar profile who has ever earned a call-up, anywhere. Andy Farrell assures us that his son is fighting fit, but can he really be Lions match-level fit?
However this works out, the optics aren't particularly good, but that's not going to bother either Farrell. Publicly, all the Lions players will undoubtedly row in behind the decision of their coach. But privately? A guess suggests that some noses will be out of joint.
Maybe he will come on and kick the series-winning points, but that's hardly the issue. It's a strange, completely unexpected rabbit that the coach has pulled out of his hat. If it works out in line with O'Reilly's performance, then Farrell junior can expect the slings and arrows of vile, detestable social media. Very different from amusing tinned-food reprimands. It would be a sorry way to finish a stellar international career. We can but wait and see, and hope.