Steve Hansen and Nick Mallett have criticised the communication failure that forced referee Andrea Piardi to use a cellphone to speak with the TMO in Perth.
The desperate measure was required during Sunday’s Test between the Wallabies and Springboks as several incidents were reviewed.
“We had Mr Telecom out there with his phone,” said Hansen on the Rugby Unity podcast. “Like, surely in today’s world, we can get the little things right.”
The 2015 World Cup-winning All Blacks coach was also highly critical of the disciplinary protocols that contributed to Australia finishing the match with 11 players after four yellow cards in the final 12 minutes.
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“How can we allow a game to degenerate because of head knocks? Now I would understand if they were straight-out swinging arms or deliberate, but not one of them was,” Hansen said.
“One of the charters of the game is to have a fair contest. Well, it’s not a fair contest at 11 people versus 15. It’s just ridiculous. It’s embarrassing to watch it.”
Hansen stressed that Piardi was implementing the laws rather than causing the problem.
“We can’t blame him; we’ve got to look at the protocols because it’s not right.”
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Mallett, speaking on the Talking Boks podcast, also sympathised with the Italian referee.
“I think it must be a dreadful situation to be in the middle of a big Test match and you haven’t got comms with your TMO,” the former Bok coach said.
But Mallett was scathing about the technological failure itself, particularly after communication problems also affected the Boks’ recent Test against the All Blacks in Baltimore.
“It’s ridiculous with communications and technology being as good as they are now in the world; you should never have a situation in an international game where the referee has to use a cellphone to talk to his TMO. That’s ridiculous.”
Photo: Paul Kane/Getty Images
The post Hansen, Mallett slam ‘Please call me’ scenes appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Steve Hansen and Nick Mallett have criticised the communication failure that forced referee Andrea Piardi to use a cellphone to speak with the TMO in Perth.
The post Hansen, Mallett slam ‘Please call me’ scenes appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
