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Eddie Jones: We will need two referees in the future to combat rugby union's increased intensity
England head coach, Eddie Jones, believes that such is the speed and intensity of the professional game that it will require two referees out in the middle to keep up with events as happens now in rugby league in Australia. Jones revealed that there had been 39 minutes of ball-in-play action during Saturday’s Quilter international against South Africa in a match that actually lasted 100 minutes on the stop-watch.
“The game is getting more intense,” said Jones. “All the data shows that. The game on the weekend went for 100 minutes. There was 39 minutes of ball in play action which means that there were 61 minutes where the players can recover. So the intensity of the hits, the quickness of the contact, has gone up.
"We are asking one referee to do it the way they did it when blokes like me were playing, jogging round the field basically. And the ref is still doing the same job. I think referees are doing a great job. At some stage in the future, though probably not in my time, they may have to look at two referees on the field.”
Rugby union has, of course, brought in assistant referees that are microphone-linked to the referee and can advise on issues such as foul play and offside. The television match official also has an input on the validity of tries scored although World Rugby has recently highlighted its intention to shift the onus of responsibility back on to the referee in the middle so as not to slow the game down unduly.
Jones declined to get drawn into any discussion on the merits of the last-minute decision not to penalise Owen Farrell for the tackle on Springbok centre, Andre Esterhuizen.
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“We accept the good with the bad,” said Jones who expressed his admiration for this Saturday’s referee, Jerome Garces, the Frenchman who sent off All Black centre, Sonny Bill Williams early in the second test against the Lions in Wellington, a decision that turned the game. “It had a massive impact. They (New Zealand) were going to win that test and it would have been all over, Red Rover. Jerome is a highly respected referee and he made the right decision.”
Wallaby centre, Kurtley Beale, has called for greater consistency from officials.
“A couple of years ago that (Farrell’s tackle) is a red card or a yellow or a penalty,” said Beale. “We need consistency.”
