Johannesburg - When it comes to the state of officiating in the game of rugby, then who better than to get the opinion of Andre Watson – one of the most decorated and experienced match officials to ever blow the game.
On Monday, while attending the new sponsorship between the Golden Lions Rugby Referees Society and BestMed at Emirates Airline Park, Watson – who is employed by the union at the helm of training and education – revealed his thoughts of officiating in the United Rugby Championship (URC).
“It is no use trying to be diplomatic,” Watson said.
“It hasn’t been the best of competitions when it comes to refereeing standards but I think with Tappe Henning now the boss of URC reffing, things will change. He is a very, very experienced guy.
“I think he needs time for his style and his influence to really take effect. I think it will pick up and next year we will talk less and less about the negative stuff.
“The URC is not a competition where you trial referees,” Watson continued. “The referees in the URC need to be there on merit. Whether they are from South Africa or Italy or any other participating country because it is a very, very high standard of rugby.”
Like many, Watson has a few bugbears regarding the application of the laws in rugby but expressed belief that two areas of contention – the set-piece and ruck-time – are as close to fair as they possibly could be.
Said Watson: “I believe the scrums are basically sorted out.
“I think it is so black and white now and it is pretty obvious when a team does something wrong ... The breakdown will always be an issue because in a game of URC there will be up to 300 tackles in a game; and if the ref only gets 2% wrong, then he makes six errors, which is quite good.
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“I don’t think the breakdown is a talking point and I don’t think it is an issue.
“I think the yellow cards, the red cards, the so-called foul play – playing people in the air, dangerous tackles, dangerous play – that is totally over-sanitised at the moment,” Watson added.
“I will probably get into trouble with World Rugby and everybody else … It is a contact sport, it is a collision sport – people run, people tackle, people fall, and they should be allowed to do that.
“I am not talking foul play or dirty play; I don’t personally believe there is place for a tip-tackle in rugby and they should all be red-carded but when two players jump into the air, you can put money on it that one of them will not land safely and whose responsibility is that?”
Meanwhile, the BestMed sponsorship – which will run for one year with the option to renew for another - Watson explained, is an important step in the development of match officials from school level upwards in the greater Johannesburg area and its surrounds.
“What this sponsorship will mean to us is that we will be able to spend more money in developing referees of all sexes, races and ages by uplifting the general standard of refereeing, and then getting good referees through onto the Saru panels ...
“This sponsorship will help and give us the tools and the means to work even harder and with more refs ... There will be more courses, there will be more one-on-ones.
“Each referee will be videoed and we will go through the steps together. The refs out there at school and club level, there is no TV on them and this will help us look at those refs in a big way and for themselves to look at what they have done wrong and how they can correct it.”
Asked about predicting this weekend’s URC quarter-final results, Watson simply stated: “My blood is green – go South African teams, go!”
@FreemanZAR