To change the players' behaviour, those who lead – the IRB, the unions and the elite players – must remain at the forefront of the highest possible standards, writes LIAM TOLAND

WITH LESS than 10 minutes left on the clock in Wellington, South Africa, totally dominant, still found themselves only one point ahead of Australia. Then along comes Danie Rossouw, the big Springbok secondrow, and unbelievably he pulls down the Australian lineout. Referee Bryce Lawrence blew for a very obvious penalty.

With minutes remaining Lawrence knew his decision afforded James O’Connor a good chance at putting the Wallabies in front. Does he take this into account? No. Does he assess the seriousness of the incident centred on the laws of the game and the safety of the player who was pulled down? Absolutely. Many rules within our game are defined but they have a tolerance built-in for the referee to interpret. O’Connor steps up and puts Australia ahead and off to the semi-final they go.

South African referee Craig Joubert was faced with a similar rule break with five minutes to go in yesterday’s encounter between the All Blacks and the Wallabies. This time his decision had little impact on the outcome and passed without much interest. On the 75th minute Sonny Bill Williams timed his tackle on Wallaby outhalf Quade Cooper terribly. The game was effectively over, the Wallabies exhausted and the scoreboard differential was too great to claw back in five minutes. Regardless Joubert spotted Sonny Bill flying in to Cooper who was already halted by another All Black and failing to wrap his arms around in the tackle.

Considering the size differential this would be the equivalent of car-crash contact. Just because Cooper is slippery with ball in hand should be no defence for Sonny Bill; penalty and yellow card. As I said because of the time and score no one really cared he was binned.

Why then does the significance of the game, the time on the clock or indeed the relevance of intent or otherwise have any bearing on the referee’s decision? As it should not. Thankfully some areas of our game are sacrosanct and it has for some taken far too long to become that way where eye-gouging, rucking down on a man’s face, hookers swinging in the scrum and spear tackles (aka tip tackles) are now almost a thing of the past. For instance Alan Quinlan lost out on a life’s dream to travel as a British and Irish Lion to South Africa because for a nanosecond his hand and fingers “loitered” over Leo Cullen’s face and eyes. Should the review committee take his journey into account, should they take into account Cullen’s testimony or should they take into account the greater good of the game?

It’s not so long ago, like many opensides around the country, I mimicked what David Pocock and co are doing during this RWC. However, in the good old days I would have found myself well on the wrong side more often than not. Queue the arrival of the less than sympathetic opposition forwards and my body from head to toe would be destroyed with rake marks. This would invariably occur at every breakdown. So you can imagine the state I’d be in post match; but it was all a bit of fun until someone would lose an eye. After all many a head was stamped on and the “stamper” would say, “It was an accident, I didn’t mean to stand on his head.”

Clearly this is not good enough and my argument has always been if you don’t stamp on a person you can’t stamp on his head. If you don’t place your hand on the head you can’t eye-gouge. If you don’t lift a player in the tackle you can’t bust his shoulder or neck. Hence zero tolerance. Thankfully the game is clearing up this behaviour as too the eye-gouging.

Seventeen minutes into the Wales-France match an opportunity at the tail of the lineout presented to Sam Warburton. No doubt he has, even in his very young career, faced similar situations on countless occasions. What possessed him to execute the tackle as occurred can only be explained by adrenalin, aggression, over-exuberance and an overriding need to stop the French attack. Unfortunately it was Vincent Clerc who experienced the emotion from Warburton. No doubt, as many would account, he didn’t mean to execute as he did but, as I’ve highlighted earlier, that has no relevance.

It is crucial to remember the role of a referee. In my mind his role is to change the behaviour of the players who want to push the boundaries, by accident or design. We witness this at scrum time where props try to outwit their opposite man in a battle of brain over brawn. It is also important to understand the referee’s decision is from his vantage point. In other words what he sees he decides upon. What he doesn’t see his assistants should.

I found myself in Teach Uí Bhriain, Tuamgraney, Co Clare, on Saturday afternoon and Alain Rolland’s decision exercised many, a good number of whom are GAA and horsey people. It created a divide in the group I was with. Most in favour of the red card were agreed the game must be protected and those playing it at whatever level. Those against were of the mind it was a World Cup semi-final and only 17 minutes old. They argued it was a penalty but not a red card. In comparison I now ask was Sonny Bill’s “no arm” tackle on Cooper (a yellow card) on par with Warburton’s “tip” tackle on Clerc, because I for one believe them not to be.

In order to change the behaviour of the players around the world those who lead, the IRB, the unions and the elite players must remain at the forefront of the highest possible standards otherwise referees way down in the junior leagues and schools will feel unprotected by the example set at the RWC.

I do feel terribly for Wales and it is a crying shame for Warburton and his team that events unfolded as they did but if in the upcoming schools’ cups around the country the image of him sitting red carded on the bench is uppermost in players’ minds we will have a far safer game and one much more manageable to referee. Zero tolerance and well done Alain Rolland. Interestingly my sympathy for Wales is primarily rooted neither in Rolland’s decision, nor the missed points, but in the French performance which is another matter.

PS – With yesterday’s game behind us we have to contrast and compare these great rugby nations. There’s a newer skills version of the All Black camp on Youtube, “All Blacks Skills – Part 2 – Summer Edition”. If you have ever wondered about the source of the technical skills set of the Wallabies you’ve simply got to look at the Waratahs Skills session on Youtube which mimics the All Blacks, “Waratahs Skills – Summer Edition.” It is hilarious!