Dave Rennie believes that the TMO will be a big topic of discussion when the game’s top coaches and officials meet in London.
World Rugby’s Shape of the Game meeting usually takes place in November when the southern hemisphere nations embark on their end-of-year tours, and this year is no different.
The All Blacks boss has been critical of how the scrum has been officiated this year, but following his team’s 43-21 victory over the Wallabies, he raised another concern that he believes needs to be addressed.
This after Wallabies fly-half Declan Meredith was denied a try after sprinting through New Zealand’s defence. However, Cam Rogiard put in a brilliant cover tackle to deny the playmaker, with the scrum-half using his leg to stop the pivot from scoring.
Cam Roigard’s try-saver
Meredith spilled the ball over the line with the All Blacks attack from the turnover in possession, with Beauden Barrett sprinting down the touchline and putting a kick into the Wallabies’ 22. At the next break of play, TMO Marius van der Westhuizen notified referee Luke Pearce that he should review the actions of Roigard over a suspected kick.
Rennie believes that the officials correctly deemed that Roigard did not purposefully kick out to dislodge the ball and that the action was simply part of the tackle. However, he raised the question of what would happen if it were a penalty try.
“These are probably discussions for a lot of coaches,” the All Blacks boss said.
“We are going to be up in London in a couple of weeks, and there’s an opportunity for everyone to discuss that, but if you went back to that, and let’s say, it was a penalty try, do you take the two minutes off that we’ve just lost in the game? There are lots of questions to be asked around that.
“I haven’t got an answer for you now, but no doubt it will be discussed in a couple of weeks.”
Verdict on the decision
This also comes after complaints around the timekeeping during the Wallabies’ Test match against the Springboks in Perth a couple of weeks ago, where a significant amount of time was lost after TMO reviews.
All Blacks captain Codie Taylor was asked about the decision and said: “I was off the field at that time, but my understanding was that, in the act of scoring, you’re allowed to play the ball. And obviously that’s the way Luke saw it; that is why he overruled it.”
Rennie clarified: “You can’t kick the ball. So he’s deemed that Cam didn’t kick it, but he’s still just trying to defend to stop him from getting the ball down.”
Overall, the All Blacks boss was happy with Pearce’s handling of the fixture despite suggestions from the media present that there were questionable calls, particularly in the second half.
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After dominating the first half, New Zealand managed just one try in the second 40 minutes, which Rennie puts down to his side’s inaccuracies.
“I’ve got no issues around refereeing,” he said.
“I thought Luke did it well. We just weren’t as accurate, but we had two or three opportunities, and we turned the ball over, and the Wallabies are lethal from turnover ball and counter. ”