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BEN STRANG
Last updated 11:54, May 18 2015
OPINION:
Chiefs coach Dave Rennie is a rather unhappy man.
By rather unhappy, we mean he's absolutely fuming. Raging. Furious. He's not a happy chappy.
His Chiefs side suffered at the hands of one of the biggest refereeing howlers of the Super Rugby season, just when they had a chance to beat the Hurricanes on their home turf.
Referee Glen Jackson went upstairs and in an awful hurry TMO Vinny Munro came back with an incorrect decision.
The rest is history.
Where did the officials go wrong on Saturday night?
Sam Cane 'knock on' - 79th minute
We start with the biggest, most talked about call of the match.
Sam Cane was brought down by Hurricanes replacement prop Chris Eves, and as Cane went to present the ball, Eves, lying on the ground, knocked the ball out of Cane's hands.
Referee Glen Jackson copped plenty of criticism following the Hurricanes' clash with the Chiefs.
Halfback Augustine Pulu then collected the ball, found a gap and scored a try for the Chiefs, but the play was sent upstairs to check what happened in the ruck.
A knock-on, a rushed Munro said. Temperatures in the Waikato went up a couple of degrees as a result.
Firstly, we need to know if it was a knock-on.
The start of World Rugby's knock-on definition is: "A knock-on occurs when a player loses possession of the ball and it goes forward."
Eves was heavily involved, but because Cane lost possession of the ball in the direction of the opposition goal line, it's a knock-on. It's a rule this referee reviewer doesn't agree with.
Then we head back to Eves' involvement, which is a clear penalty.
Rule 16.4 (d) in the World Rugby law book states: "Players on the ground in or near the ruck must try to move away from the ball. These players must not interfere with the ball in the ruck or as it comes out of the ruck."
Such a cynical penalty probably should have resulted in a card given that stage of the game, but was up to the discretion of the referee.
The Chiefs should have been awarded a penalty, but Pulu's try should not have stood as Cane's knock-on ended any penalty advantage the Chiefs received.
Ma'a Nonu knock-on - 50th minute
Nonu burst through the Chiefs defence but as he made a stretch for the try line the ball came loose.
There is a clear gap between the ball and Nonu's arm at the start of the movement, but as the ball nears the ground Nonu comes back in contact, forcing downwards.
When the ball touches the ground it is unclear whether Nonu is in contact with the ball or not.
Given the way the ball bounces after hitting the ground it would appear Nonu didn't force the ball into the ground, although we are talking about very fine margins.
Based on the evidence, the referees couldn't award the try.
Callum Gibbins forward pass - 65th minute
We've talked about forward passes before, and we'll do it again, no doubt.
The Hurricanes had the best no-try of the season when it was called back for a forward pass from Gibbins to TJ Perenara.
What referees have to look for on forward pass calls is if the player has thrown the ball forward from his hands, because relative velocity means almost every pass from a running player travels forward in relation to the ground.
Going frame by frame, it appears Gibbins does throw the ball slightly forward in relation to his body, and the ball ends up inches ahead of him when it reaches Perenara.
At full speed it looked like a flat pass, but Jackson made the right call.
Bryce Heem forward pass - 40th minute
Of course, there were plenty of comments on Saturday night along the lines of, "well if that was forward, Bryce Heem's pass was forward too".
This one is harder to judge because Heem is tackled as he throws the pass, halting his momentum.
Because he stops, the pass looks like it goes forward, but had Heem continued at the same velocity as he was going as the pass was thrown, the pass appeared flat at worst.
Jackson made another correct call.
Liam Squire yellow card - 48th minute
Chiefs flanker/lock Liam Squire was sent to the bin after he was deemed to have tip-tackled Ma'a Nonu.
Nonu landed with his feet in the air, but fairly safely on his back, although it may have knocked the wind out of him.
After going upstairs and reviewing the tackle, Munro advised Jackson it was a yellow card offence, and Squire was sent to the bin.
Law 10.4 (j) states: "Lifting a player from the ground and dropping or driving that player into the ground whilst that player's feet are still off the ground such that the player's head and/or upper body come into contact with the ground is dangerous play."
There's no doubting it was Nonu's back, and upper back, which came into contact with the ground first.
You can argue that Nonu was never tipped past horizontal, and that argument would have come up plenty after the call was made, but "horizontal" isn't mentioned in the rule itself.
Remember, lifting tackles are part of the game World Rugby are trying to stamp out, and there is no tolerance.
The Nonu tackle was at the lower end of the spectrum, but Jackson and Munro made the correct call.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/s...h-no-munro-tmo
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