The 2023 Rugby World Cup has already been Destroyed by the Idiots with the Whistles

 

So we are less than 3 days into the Rugby World Cup 2023 and the only thing anyone is talking about (other than France blitzing the All Blacks) is the ridiculousness of the fucking idiots with whistles who are systematically destroying the game we all know and love. If I have my way they would all be taken to Place dela Revolution and put in the guillotine, such is their negative influence on the game. Jaco Peyper was excellent on Friday and I had hope the IRB had explained to these twats with whistles, the importance of rugby being the center point of the global showpiece .

But alas, come Saturday and the walking, talking, breathing idiots were back. Peyper barely had cause for review with the TMO, yet Mathieu Raynal seems to blow by proxy. Granted he did have Marius "insert myself into the game" Jonker as TMO but ultimately he is in charge. He is so poor he doesn't even trust his OWN eyes for something as simple as a knock-on, where he was 3m away with a clear view. This type of lack of skill has no place in an international tournament. Then today we have Rassie's Aussie bunny, Nic Berry. You remember Berry? He was the one who made some 30+ errors in one international game and then cried like a baby when they were highlighted by Rassie. If the referee's review system really worked these would've been sent to Berry by the refs committee long before Rassie's video was leaked. Today this idiot is still blowing (and being paid) at RWC level. He is still no better. Today he gave a valid yellow to a Chilean player for a late tackle then asked the bunker to review whether it was a red card???? For a fucking late tackle. It wasn't high, it was a textbook knee high tackle. It was just late. When is that ever going to be red card?? Although maybe I am tempting fate here, given the stupid laws being mooted for next year!!

These guys are systematically destroying the game and they are untouchable!! They answer to no one but their own little review cabal and no matter how shit they are each week, they are back fucking up another game the next week. Mathieu Raynal may be the worst in the professional era and the bar is set fairly low. Remember that beauty  David McHugh? He of "take time to chat to your team about penalties in the red zone" whilst the Bok captain was doing just that he allowed Ireland to take a quick tap and score in the corner? Still better than Raynal.

If the game is to survive this attempted coup by officialdom several things need to happen.

• the TMO needs to become a mic-off role. The mic can only be active when the time is stopped by the on field ref (OFR), and the TMO can only respond to a question from the OFR. NO inserting himself into every situation, ala Marius Jonker.
• Any yellow reviewed in the bunker, which then becomes a red, should be handled by the 10 minute penalty being served. When the 10 min yellow period is served, the player who was upgraded to red must leave the game and a replacement from the bench must replace him. That keeps the game at 15 v 15, which is what the fans want to see, especially with the amount of reds in the new nanny-state game.
• a straight red card remains unchanged.
• Any decisions missed by the OFR, not referred to the TMO, get dealt with by the citing committee after the game. Same as if a current issue is missed by officials but later comes to light.
• A set of of sanction tariffs, with no tackle school shit or good behaviour mitigation. These are handled by a standard committee who handle all citings for a specific period. no deviation from the tariff code.
• The on-field team plus the TMO needs to attend the after-match press conferences and be forced to answer for the shower of shit they are currently serving up.

I for one am sick of the modern game and the absolute nanny state of the game today. If every player needs to sign a collision damage waiver to play the game, so be it. It is a sport of high impact. Clashes of heads are inevitable but unless it is patently stupid (Millea on Grant Williams) or directly deliberate then lets play on and deal with it after the game. If they still have to dictate this rubbish, then we have to have absolute consistency. We are far from that utopia at present, as the two head on head incidents in the Eng v Arg and Jap v Chi clearly highlights. No material difference between the two incidents, yet two vastly different outcomes for the offending player!! No one in any position of power at the IRB seems to give a damn about it. They are probably too busy sorting out their bank accounts after the next host country is voted on.