Ref Watch: Peyper sees red as cards fly and penalty tries go a begging

Jaco Peyper is one of the most experienced officials in world rugby and he needed to draw on all his skills to handle a test match crammed with incident and controversy which eventually delivered Ireland’s first win in New Zealand – at the fourteenth time of asking.

The head contact protocols make more cards and increased use of the TMO inevitable – at least until players and coaches are able to make significant changes to tackle technique – and referees have also as a result had to adapt.

Red cards used to be a very occasional occurrence and what was perhaps not widely appreciated was the extent to which a referee’s concentration and subsequent performance could be impacted by the unsettling effect of sending a player off. Did I get that right? Could I have done something to prevent it happening? Focusing on the rest of the match rather than dwelling on the red card was a skill in itself.

In the modern world, such are the frequency of these big calls, officials deal with them far more regularly and are therefore less likely to suffer subsequent concentration issues. It is accuracy in both process and outcome which is of greater concern to World Rugby’s elite group of whistlers, so how did Peyper plus TMO and touch judges fare?

Leicester Fainga’anuka yellow card

Towards the end of the opening quarter TMO Tom Foley intervened to ask Peyper to view Fainga’anuka’s late challenge on Mack Hansen.

“He’s never targeting the ball,” Foley advised.

Ireland’s winger was contacted quite some time after he had kicked the ball by Fainga’anuka who had taken off in an attempt to affect a charge-down.

In days gone by, because the All Black was already off the ground – and committed – when Hansen kicked the ball, the clash would usually have been deemed accidental.

However, the modern safety-based approach to head contact requires players to be responsible for the outcome of their actions – and not act recklessly - even when intent is not present.

Replays showed that Fainga’anuka’s arm clearly impacted Hansen’s head, which snapped backwards, however this happened after it first contacted the Irishman’s chest. This provided just enough mitigation for the officials to downgrade the card from red to yellow.

“Not a high level of danger,” Peyper concluded, but as Sky’s half-time analysis suggested it was a borderline call.

Possible Ireland penalty try?

Ofa Tu’ungafasi was yellow carded after Foley asked Peyper to take a look at his off-the-ball tackle on Gary Ringrose.

The British Lions centre was on the inside shoulder of the ball carrier around eight metres from the home line when he was taken out.

Given the incident’s proximity to the home try-line a yellow card was inevitable based on the degree of cynicism involved. However, was there also a case for a penalty try?

Peyper viewed the incident from a wider angle and in both slo-mo and real time in an attempt to ascertain whether the All Black cover would have got to Ringrose and decided it would.

The key point here is whether the offence prevented a ‘probable’ (not definite) try. So would Ringrose have probably received a pass, would he probably have caught it and would he have probably reached the line before the cover got to him?

On all available evidence Peyper concluded not – many including myself and co-commentator Alan Quinland who said: “There’s no way anyone’s getting to Ringrose if he gets the pass,” will disagree.

Angus Ta’avai red card

Under the head protocol directives and law as written this is as cast-iron a red card as we will ever see.

The All Black temporary replacement – who was on the field because of by Fainga’anuka’s sin-binning – made no attempt to bend into his tackle on Ringrose and a high-impact clash of heads resulted.

Peyper and Foley followed the protocol to the letter, checking to see if Ringrose had either dipped in height or changed direction at the last moment, but when no mitigation was present a red card duly followed.

Ardie Savea becomes the fall guy 

The officiating that followed then included two errors in process.

With both tight heads now off the field, the next two scrums were uncontested, so as per the incident which affected Italy in the Six Nations, New Zealand should have removed two additional players when they brought on loose head Aidan Ross as a second temporary front row replacement leaving 12 - not 13 - players on the pitch for the brief period until Fainga’anuka returned from the bin.

In addition to blindside flanker Dalton Papalii, who had previously exited to allow Ta’avai to cover for Fainga’anuka, the Kiwis were required to take off only the influential Savea.

Ironically, when Savea then attempted a return to the fray when by Fainga’anuka exited the sin bin he was forced by the officiating team to leave the field since New Zealand then had 15 - instead of 14 - players on the pitch. However, in law it should have been the originally-replaced Papalii who was prohibited from returning to the fray.

In summary this meant New Zealand played around two minutes with 13 instead of 12 players, while Savea rather than Papalii should have been allowed to return.

Ardie Savea of the All Blacks (L) and Rieko Ioane of the All Blacks in the huddle after the match during the International Test match between the New Zealand All Blacks and Ireland at Forsyth Barr Stadium on July 09, 2022 in Dunedin, New Zealand. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

Scrums help the flow

This was a thrilling match for the neutral, and in no small part this was due to how little time was wasted at the set-piece.

Peyper clearly had the front rows onside with his required engagement process and as a result only one of 17 scrums had to be reset, while 13 completed without the award of a penalty or free kick.

Strong Management

Peyper is not everyone’s cup of tea, but I really like his strong management style. For those who watched James Doleman’s display during last week’s Australia v England game a massive contrast was evident between a rookie international ref and one with many years behind him.

This was perfectly illustrated by the South African’s conversation with New Zealand skipper Sam Cane during the spell when the Kiwi’s had 13 men.

After penalising the hosts for lifting a leg in a defensive maul close to their own line, Peyper told Cane: “You need to have a serious chat, I’m not going to back off.”

A weaker official would not have countenanced reducing New Zealand to 12 players for one or two technical offences immediately after showing a red card – but Peyper made it abundantly clear that he would grant no such leeway.