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England get it spot-on - and so does France's top rugby ref

The 62-5 thrashing of Wales at Twickenham signalled an upturn in England's Rugby World Cup build-up. But in some ways, it was match official Joel Jutge who stole the show

by ROGER NAISH on 07 August 2007

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Joel Jutge: He had total control (Gettyimages.com)

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The opening shots of Rugby World Cup 2007 have been fired and whilst it was a day of encouragement for England at Twickenham on Saturday, for Wales it was a day best forgotten. But what about the guy in the middle? How did he fare ?

As I have previously written, I plan through a junior rugby ref's eyes to assess the performance of our more senior and experienced colleagues over the warm-up and actual Rugby World Cup 2007 games.

Back in the mists of time, I was fortunate enough to meet Clive Woodward when he was coach at Henley RFC. I refereed a game between the first teams of Henley and Rosslyn Park and although being 0-21 down at half-time, Henley secured a tense and exciting 22-21 victory. After the game Clive shook my hand and told me that he had hardly noticed I was out there during the game - arguably one of the best things anybody can tell a ref.

'There are enormous pressures on referees and touch judges for the correct decisions to be made at Premiership and International levels but, in my opinion, too many decisions are passed “upstairs” for video analysis'

And so it was with Joel Jutge at Twickenham on Saturday. I will declare at this stage that I did not rate Joel when he first arrived on the scene at senior level. He spent most of the time looking like a rabbit caught in headlights and had the players staring at him in total amazement and/or disbelief.

He could not communicate because his English was poor. Not so now and his abilities and numbers of Tests have grown as his command of the language has flourished.

On Saturday, however, Joel had total control of the game - with us hardly knowing he was there. When he did have to make his presence known, he did so effectively and accurately, for example in foul-play situations. Apart from that, he left the game to evolve as the dominant English players wanted it to evolve, without ignoring the rights and protection due to their Welsh opponents.

Another excellent part of his game on Saturday was that he had the courage to make a goal-line decision without the use of the TMO. There are enormous pressures on referees and touch judges for the correct decisions to be made at Premiership and International levels but, in my opinion, too many decisions are passed “upstairs” for video analysis.

To me, some of the IRB guys are for too quick to pass the buck rather than bite the bullet themselves. Will Jutge adopt this same attitude in RWC2007? Only time will tell but thanks, Joel, for having the courage to perform the way you did last Saturday.

England face France at HQ this weekend and this time I’ll be there to see the game in the flesh without the benefit of commentary or expert analysis. I wonder how this one will pan out? I’ll let you know next week.

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Comments (7)

by Scott Donaldson on August 07, 2007

So much depends on the referee's interpretation and involvement. I reckon the All Blacks could suffer with their fast paced game if the referee stifles the game. There is nothing worse than the referee trying to be the star performer by blowing everything and anything up!

by James Hutchison on August 07, 2007

Have you seen Jake White's criticism of Jutge? He has written to the IRB complaining about Jutge's officiating of the lineout, and suggesting England were allowed to get away with 'trampling' at the breakdown. Jutge will referee England's Pool A match with South Africa, so I think it's all blatant mind games. What do you think about the way coaches try to influence the referee before a big game?

by Roger Naish on August 07, 2007

Firstly, I will address Scott's comments. New Zealand will get a Ref of whom they approve in any of the big games in the up-coming World Cup. That means they will get a Ref who has refereed them before either in Europe or Tri-Nations games or both.You will NOT get a newby in charge of a Quarter Final, Semi or Final so relax Scotty. Although you Kiwis think the only team on the planet that play running rugby are the AB's, there are other running teams around. In reply to James, I think mind games are an un-necessary distraction but as long as newpapers are prepared to print comments from rival coaches / players, mind games will go on. It sells newspapers. There's no doubt that the Aussies conned England into playing a running game in RWC1991 Final rather than the forward dominated game that got them to the Final. 16 years later and Australia still can't field a quality front five but in '91 the mind games worked. These days, the people that matter i.e. International Coaches and Players all know it's part

by Simon Thomas on August 07, 2007

Nice to see Jake White is so concerned that is is playing "mind games" in direct conflict with Paddy O'Brien's recent RWC protocols ! I think he has done exactly the opposite to what he intended, and has highlighted that England pose real threats to South Africa's line-out and loose play techniques (what are Berger and Skinstad going to do if they can't lie all over the ball ?)

by Liz on August 10, 2007

It was refreshing to see the ref rely on his own ability and not call for the little man in the box outside to tell him what were tries. Some refs seek reassurance even over the simplest tries.