When players are found guilty of dangerous defending, they are sent to tackle school, so it is time for coaches found guilty of abusing referees to be sent to officiating school – to understand the complexities of an impossible job.
This chronic issue for the sport is in the spotlight again because Steve Diamond has been handed a six-match ban for targeting officials with ‘utterly unacceptable’ abuse following his Newcastle side’s defeat at Exeter last month.
As one of English rugby’s most notoriously fiery figures, Diamond has previous for this sort of offence and subsequent suspension – and he’s by no means the only one – but the punishments aren’t working, so a better solution might involve promoting greater empathy.
Put him in the middle with a whistle. The same could apply to anyone who crosses this particular line. With suitable supervision, arrange for those who rant about decision-making in matches to see how difficult it is to get it all right.
Film it, then review it in detail. See how many infringements any of them would miss. It could be an academy or grass-roots match – even a schools fixture, if necessary. Put them on the other side of the fence, to understand how it feels.
If going to that extreme is unworkable, perhaps they could shadow a referee during a game, then join in with a debrief meeting. Provide the coaches with more access to the evaluation process and the intense scrutiny that goes with it. Let them see how referees are held to account week after week, in pursuit of their professional duties.
Newcastle head coach Steve Diamond has been handed a six-match ban for targeting officials with ‘utterly unacceptable’ abuse following his side’s defeat at Exeter last month
Diamond has previous for this sort of offence and subsequent suspension – and he’s by no means the only one – but the punishments aren’t working (pictured: referee Adam Leal)
With suitable supervision, arrange for those who rant about decision-making in matches to see how difficult it is for officials to get it all right. Film it, then review it in detail
It might just help. A similar ploy was adopted after Ireland wing Mack Hansen lashed out at refereeing following a Connacht match earlier this year.
This is a complex matter, even though abuse of officials is worthy of a zero-tolerance stance. Rugby is not yet following football down the path towards on-field hostility towards those supposedly there in positions of authority, but there have been growing instances of play-acting and demands for cards to be brandished. However, the abuse element is largely away from the playing area.
It is not a new phenomenon, but it has escalated lately, due to a series of high-profile cases where referees have retired after becoming the victims of a toxic backlash.
That was the case for English pair Wayne Barnes and Tom Foley, who acted as the referee and TMO respectively at the last World Cup Final in 2023. Barnes spoke of ‘vile’ abuse aimed at himself and his family, while Foley cited ‘a torrent of criticism and abuse online’.
In 2021, Rassie Erasmus received a long ban after a video was released showing South Africa’s director of rugby condemning multiple decisions against his side in their series-opening defeat against the Lions. Months later, Australian referee Nic Berry’s statement to a World Rugby hearing read: ‘The public attack on my integrity and character is not something that should be tolerated.
‘Due to the actions of Mr Erasmus, my family and I have endured a significant amount of distress. I feel that Mr Erasmus engaged in a character assassination of me.’
Sit at any club match in ear-shot of coaches and there will be a constant soundtrack of complaints about officiating decisions. Firstly, every ground should have a sound-proofed box so that they can all vent their frustrations in private. Secondly, more steps need to be taken to keep coaches away from officials after matches, until all the raw emotions have subsided. That’s just common-sense.
What must be accepted by those in charge of teams is that those in charge of games cannot hope to do their jobs to the satisfaction of all parties, all the time. It just isn’t possible. Someone is always outraged. Every losing coach has a decision or 10 to excuse their team’s demise, if asked – as they surely will be.
Wayne Barnes spoke of ‘vile’ abuse aimed at himself and his family before retiring in 2023
In 2021, Rassie Erasmus received a long ban after a video was released showing South Africa’s director of rugby condemning multiple decisions against his side in a defeat against the Lions
Ronan O’Gara has urged for decision-makers to meet and ‘make rugby more simple’
Rugby is a nightmare for its referees. It’s just too complicated for its own good. There are too many laws and shades of grey. If every single infringement was picked up and penalised, no game would have an uninterrupted sequence of more than about eight seconds.
The breakdown is a place of aggressive chaos. Referees need four pairs of eyes each, or more back-up. They also have to deal with endless law tweaks and crackdowns, which need to be learned and enforced under pressure. Good luck.
It is fair to sympathise with coaches who identify genuine injustice, when their livelihoods depend on results, but they also have a duty to maintain the integrity of the game. Rugby should surrender its moral high ground, accept that its cherished core values have become a hollow branding exercise, embrace its imperfections and find ways to unite in trying to make the whole unruly mess work.
As well as empathy, what is needed is simplicity. In the aftermath of the Hansen saga, this point was made by another coach with a history of berating officials – Ronan O’Gara. He told the Off The Ball podcast: ‘Get the decision-makers in a room and make rugby more simple. They’re not setting up referees to succeed. Referees are in a very difficult position and something needs to change.’
O’Gara may not be the ideal person to man the barricades in defence of officials, given he has so often attacked them. But he is right with this argument.
Rugby needs to be simplified, or it will remain impossible to officiate and the resulting abuse may never stop.
Leinster untouchable
The extent of Leinster’s home rule in the Champions Cup is now quite astonishing, with a cumulative scoreline of 142-0 in their last two-and-a-half matches.
Since trailing 21-19 at half-time against Bath in January, they’ve turned the tables on the West Country upstarts with 28 unanswered points, before beating Harlequins 62-0 in the last 16 and then dispatching Glasgow – the URC Champions – 52-0 in a quarter-final stroll. Let’s face it, for all but the Dublin die-hards, this level of mismatch is wildly boring, although it’s not Leinster’s fault that others can’t compete.
It’s not their fault that they can manage their resources to peak at crucial junctures of the season. It’s not their fault that most of their key fixtures in ‘Europe’ take place in their city.
And it’s not their fault that they are a national team beating club sides; a well-funded national team enhanced by pedigree imports like RG Snyman and Jordie Barrett – the All Black who was outstanding as a creative force and a jackal threat against Glasgow.
Others don’t like it, but Leinster don’t have to care a jot. They will be odds-on favourites to beat Northampton – at home, of course – to reach the final, out of their comfort zone in Cardiff next month. They would go there as favourites with the bookies, but not with the neutrals.
The extent of Leinster’s home rule in the Champions Cup is now quite astonishing
Farrell’s parental outing
Andy Farrell was in Galway on Saturday night to see son Owen help Racing 92 beat Connacht in the Challenge Cup – but it was surely more of a parental outing than a scouting exercise for the Lions head coach. Once again, Farrell Jnr acted as under-study to Stuart Lancaster’s son, Dan; the visitors’ starting 10.
Having come on early in the second half, Owen struck a drop goal to keep up the Racing revival but was not required for goal-kicking duties and was sin-binned for a no-arms tackle near the end, as the Parisians hung on to win 43-40 and clinch a last-four place.
After the game, Owen Farrell spoke to Premier Sports about recovering from groin and thigh injuries which have interrupted his first season at Racing, saying: ‘I’m getting there. It’s been a tough old year so far, but I’m glad to be back on the pitch and hopefully get back to playing well.’
Asked about his father’s presence at the Connacht game, he added: ‘My mum and my brother were here as well, hopefully to watch me.’
Andy Farrell was in Galway on Saturday night to see son Owen help Racing 92 beat Connacht
Chabal victim of worst era
Sebastien Chabal’s revelations about being unable to recall ‘a single second’ of his decorated rugby career served as another grim jolt to the sport’s clean-up quest.
While the authorities are striving to make the game safer, the sad plight of former players from the professional era leaves a dark stain.
Chabal was a giant, imposing, bearded oval-ball icon, especially as the poster-boy of the 2007 World Cup in his own country. The French back-rower was a force of nature as part of the Sale side which won the Premiership title.
A familiar sight in that period was his long hair flowing behind him as Chabal ran from deep and pounded through rival defences with primal fury. His staring-down of the Haka in Cardiff before France beat the All Blacks 18 years ago was another vivid memory, along with the hilarious spectacle of him arriving at Carrington for Sale training wedged into a Smart car along with fellow Gallic forward, Lionel Faure.
At 47, he has the right to remember everything he achieved, but instead he is another victim of rugby’s worst era; when collisions had reached heights of savage intensity, but safety measures hadn’t caught up.
Sebastien Chabal’s revelations about being unable to recall ‘a single second’ of his decorated rugby career served as another grim jolt to the sport’s clean-up quest and leaves a dark stain
Premiership sprint promises drama
Stock up on popcorn, the fast-and-loose Premiership is returning for a five-part sprint to the play-offs. Forget the bottom of the table where no relegation means no intrigue; all the focus will be on the upper reaches.
For England’s coaches, there must be a growing mood of alarm about an absence of searing intensity in the league this season. It’s been a points bonanza with optional defending at times. It’s been ‘you score seven tries, we’ll score eight’ – which bears little resemblance to the top of the international game, which is often far more attritional. But what the Premiership is offering again is a well-matched title race.
Bath are clear at the top but five clubs are vying for the remaining play-off places – and that’s to write off Harlequins, which might be reckless, as when they are hot, they are very hot. The Londoners will have a say in the top-four scrap one way or another, as they face Sale, Leicester, Gloucester and Bristol in the coming weeks.
This column is going to punt on the following final standings; Bath, Bristol, Gloucester and Sale – just ahead of Leicester and Saracens.
Stock up on popcorn, the Premiership is returning for a five-part sprint to the play-offs
Furbank’s late Lions charge
Is it too late for George Furbank to launch a push for Lions selection? Perhaps not.
The England full-back produced a regal comeback performance for Northampton on Saturday, to show club and country just what they’ve been missing. Now, after belatedly recovering from a fractured arm, Furbank needs marquee matches to show Andy Farrell that he deserves to be picked for the British and Irish mission to Australia, despite missing a chunk of the season.
A semi-final clash with Leinster in Dublin, involving a personal head-to-head with Hugo Keenan, should fit the bill nicely. If he is able to eclipse Ireland’s No 15 on that grand occasion, the slick Saint might just have a chance of making the cut, especially because Blair Kinghorn – the favourite for the Test full-back berth – is destined to be a late arrival Down Under due to annual title-chasing with Toulouse.
Whether Furbank is selected for the Lions or for England’s tour of Argentina and the USA, his return to action – as a specialist footballing full-back – is a further dent in Marcus Smith’s short-term international prospects.
England full-back George Furbank produced a regal comeback performance for Northampton
Last Word
All is quiet at Leicester, still. If the Tigers hierarchy have constructed a masterplan for life after Michael Cheika, they are doing a fine job of keeping it under wraps.
As it stands, even key figures at the club appear to be in the dark about the transition strategy. Leicester evidently moved heaven and earth to try to retain the services of their high-profile Australian head coach beyond this season, with rumours of a £700,000 annual salary offer, which was rejected.
They thought they had Paul Gustard lined up to replace Cheika, personal terms were agreed, but the Tigers wouldn’t pay Stade Francais £500,000 to release the former England defence coach from his contract in Paris, so that plan collapsed.
Well-placed sources claim that the East Midlands club ‘went back to the drawing board’ with a new 10-man shortlist, to be whittled down to three final candidates. For some reason, former front-row stalwart Graham Rowntree was initially overlooked, despite his title-winning stint in charge at Munster.
Franco Smith is seen as a front-runner for the Wales job and Stuart Lancaster is also a target for international head-hunters, while Richard Wigglesworth is entrenched for now as Steve Borthwick’s senior assistant with England.
Leicester spoke to O’Gara last season before hiring Cheika and the Irishman would be a popular target if he loses his job at struggling La Rochelle, despite two European triumphs. The scramble to replace Cheika has become a protracted saga which is having an adverse impact on the parallel hunt for new No 10s. Clarity is needed, soon.
Leicester appear to be in danger of holding out for a miracle solution which doesn’t exist. Master coaches – willing and available ones – are thin on the ground right now.
