Ref Watch: Andrew Brace not at fault, England were
In a new feature, former referee Paul Smith looks at the refereeing performances of officials during each Six Nations match. Welcome to 'Ref Watch'.
England v Scotland (Andrew Brace – Ireland)
When preparing to take charge of the Calcutta Cup Andrew Brace would have been aware that England spent 2020 giving away reams of needless penalties and that getting his key messages across to a side which seems intent on pushing every available disciplinary envelope might be a challenge.
He would also have known that forecast wet weather and a Scotland side that finished last year’s competition strongly would make for a tight, competitive contest in which accuracy in the award of kickable penalties would be especially vital.
In the event both these likelihoods became reality and despite what social media appears to have determined the Irish official can look back on a job well done.
Referees at every level ask themselves one big question on their journey home – would the outcome have been the same without my decision-making… or put another way did the better side win? With their superiority at the scrum, lineout and breakdown and their outstanding defence Scotland were unquestionably deserving winners irrespective of their concession of under 30 per cent of awarded penalties.
Quarter 1 | Quarter 2 | Quarter 3 | Quarter 4 | |
Pens against England | 7 | 3 (YC) | 4 | 1 |
Pens against Scotland | 1 | 3 (YC) | 2 | 0 |
What worked and what didn’t?
The reducing by-quarter penalty trend is a big tick in Brace’s post-match review since it suggests his approach worked across the 80 minutes, while quarter four shows the players found it entirely possible to operate within parameters he set.
His interaction with TMO Joy Neville was generally good, and especially so in the sin-binning of Finn Russell. Brace’s positioning and the speed of Ben Youngs’ sidestep meant the off-balance fly half’s instinctive trip on the England No.9 went unspotted in real-time. Once Neville drew his attention to it a yellow card was an appropriate outcome.
The scrum – where Scotland mostly had the upper hand – was a problem area throughout and when Brace looks back at the match he will ask himself what (if anything) he could have done differently. Only three of the ten scrums completed and in addition to four penalty and three free kick awards four setpieces were reset.
Talking Points
Everyone who has refereed for a reasonable period of time has one or two teams they consistently find difficulty with and others with whom everything always just seems to work.
Often this is a simple matter of finding the wavelength at which everyone is able to harmoniously operate. The players and coaches need to understand what the official wants while he/she seeks to get to grips with what they are trying to achieve.
A lot of this boils down to communication, then to whether those involved are willing to listen, process information and respond (or alternatively if their leaders are strong and smart enough to swiftly bring non-listeners and slow learners into line).
Based on their repeated concession of huge numbers of penalties, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that England are from a refereeing perspective one of these frustratingly difficult teams. They play too close to the edge too much of the time, and the fact that multiple different officials from Northern and Southern Hemispheres keep penalising the same things suggests the problem lies within the team’s coaching and leadership.
France have recently worked with now-retired 2019 World Cup final referee Jerome Garces in an attempt to improve their discipline, and if Eddie Jones is yet to pick up the phone to a similarly well-qualified figure he is missing a trick.
When Brace reviews his performance he will see England conceded nine penalties in the opening 23 minutes (actually ten since Billy Vunipola’s sin-binning for a high tackle came when advantage was being played from the Saracens’ No.8’s earlier offside).
Since England conceded only six further penalties in the remaining 57 minutes Brace may conclude that his team warning and subsequent sanction came a few penalties too late. Let’s hope England conclude they need to do something about their discipline rather than again hiding behind a slightly disingenuous “we got on the wrong side of the referee.”
Latest Comments
It might be legal but he’s sailing pretty close to the wind. Not a lot needs to go wrong for Finau to end up in the bin. Was it late? Not quite, but borderline. High? A couple of CM within the laws, no room for error with that one. Did he wrap the arms? There was a token effort to wrap one arm, the intent was clearly to hit with the shoulder. So yeah, it’s legal, just. But as we all know, a very slight change in the dynamics could easily have him seeing red. Hopefully not when it really matters.
Go to commentsYou forget this is Rassie Erasmus who is still holding the Springbok keys. Even with Felix Jones orchestrating a really tight RWC SF last year. It still wasn't enough to get England past their particular Springbok Monkey in world cups. The reason is FJ was going off of what they did in 2019 not necessarily adapting to current Springboks. So yes, Australia can get passed England because let's be honest, England have a one track strategy, Springboks do not. Even with rush defense I wouldn't be surprised if Rassie continually tweaks it. Also bear in mind Rassie is happy to sacrifice a few mid year and inter World Cup matches to pin point how opposition plays and how to again tweak strategies to get his Springboks in peak performance for the next World Cup. As much as most teams like to win games in front of them and try to win everything, Rassie always makes sure to learn and train for the greatest showdown International Rugby has to offer. Tbh, most people remember World Cup wins and ignore intermediate losses as a result but will remember also WC losses, Ireland, even if they won games in the interim. So even if games are won against the Springboks, it's likely Rassie is just getting a feel for how opposition is moving and adapt accordingly…in time. For Rassie, a loss is never a loss because he uses it as a chance to learn and improve. Sometimes during a game, again like the England match in last year's Semi Final.
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