With Malice…

Two major issues from this World Cup that need to be address in my eyes by the time the next tournament comes around.

Issue 1 - The Jerseys
What a complete debacle this was, with the Northern Hemisphere sides using this in an unsportsmanlike attempt to disrupt the All Blacks.
Scotland, who I once respected, were the first guilty of this. Generally when we play Scotland on team is in a darker strip and the other a lighter strip. I have come to accept this seeing the All Blacks don the white against Scotland on many occasions with no fuss. However the Scottish sunk to an unforgivable low in what they did with their jersey. Instead of wearing their tradition dark blue - which they won by toss - they chose a modified jersey almost identical to the All Black away jersey. The game was a joke to watch for spectators and players alike, it caused confusion.

Then roll on the French. These reprobates… persons of questionable ethics scumbags deliberately darkened their jersey so it would clash with the All Blacks. Frankly speaking if a team does that then they should be forced to wear the away strip when clashes arise. These scumbags lost my respect as well.

If the IRB is going to let these team change their jerseys like that, then it should also stipulate to them that in changing them they will be considered the away team in all circumstances as it is through their actions the clash has occurred. Might stop filth like France trying this trick again in a hurry.

Issue 2 - The Refereeing
The standard throughout pooll play was pretty poor overall. But the worst was yet to come. The effort of Wayne Barnes would go down as probably the single worst display of refereeing in the history of the game. One moronic individual bought down the hopes and dreams of an entire nation and earned their scorn and wrath like no other in the history of the game.
Two key incidents changed the entire complexion of the game.
The sin binning was a shocking decision, but the forward pass incident was completely unforgivable. This one incident saw the All Blacks unjustly exit the competition.

This highlighted a problem in that the TMO didn’t step in. Why… when the All Black players indicated the pass was forward, the referee didn’t check with the TMO… it is simply amazing.

In tennis we see some games with players losing from bad line calls, and as a result they are now allowed to challenge decisions - something warmly welcomed by players and spectators alike. Something similar must be adopted for rugby in time for the next world cup. A challenge process where a team gets two challenges per game, so if they think they have been hard done by on a decision or that the referee may have missed a forward pass they can have the TMO review it and make a decision.

In this day and age, where players spend 3-4 years gearing up for this one tournament, making huge sacrifices, it is gut wrenching to know that all of their hopes and dreams can be dashed by an experienced, yet incompetent moron like Wayne Barnes. Nothing can be done this tournament but something needs to be put in place for 2011. Hopefully, this clown won’t be around for that tournament… but if he makes the trip he wont get a traditional warm NZ welcome, that’s for sure.

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