World Rugby may have sold more than 2.5 million tickets, announced 600,000 travelling fans and made the Rugby World Cup medals from recycled phones. But the innovation that will have drawn most interest and has already attracted its fair share of sharp criticism is the new role of the foul play review officer (FPRO), a mouthful that has been colloquially renamed ‘The Bunker’.
The Bunker official is in addition to the Television Match Official (TMO), of which Ireland has two attending this year’s tournament in France, Brian MacNeice and Joy Neville, the former Ireland Women Six Nations Grand Slam winner, who makes history as the first woman to be selected on a men’s Rugby World Cup officiating panel.
The Bunker, one of several introductions to the World Cup including the shot clock, has had a difficult birth with the recent controversy surrounding Owen Farrell and the subsequent disciplinary hearing that reversed his red card sending ripples of discontent through the sport.
But World Rugby hopes its introduction, like the other technological advances in the game, becomes “added value” for fans while also enhancing match officials’ decision-making capabilities.
The Counter Ruck: the rugby newsletter from The Irish Times
Unbreakable, a cautionary tale about the heavy toll top-level rugby can take
Jacques Nienaber: ‘It was never the case that Rassie and I didn’t enjoy Munster or Ireland’
Joe Schmidt factor makes Australia game special for Ireland and Andy Farrell
Far from the action The Bunker will operate miles from where the match is taking place with the officials in charge for all matches located at the International Broadcast Centre in Paris.
Unlike the regular TMOs, The Bunker official can only comment and deal with incidents that are referred to them by the referee. They cannot highlight other acts of foul play such as a knock-on, offside or forward pass. That is the task of the TMO.
The TMOs watch the match action on TV screens, usually in a truck outside the ground. They can see multiple camera angles of an incident and pass on information to the match referee via an earpiece to help him make accurate decisions.
The Bunker comes into play when incidents are referred to it by the referee such as the tackles Farrell and Billy Vunipola recently made playing for England, which involved illegal head contact.
Officially announced earlier this month, the addition of The Bunker to the referee, line judges and TMO is aimed at assisting the flow of the game with the on-field officials, namely the referee, remaining the lead decision-maker during matches. This has come into dispute with critics pointing to referees pulling back from awarding red cards straight away, preferring to derogate that task to The Bunker.
That theory has yet to play out in a World Cup environment, although, the early tendency has been for referees to go to The Bunker as an insurance policy that the decision is correct.
The TMO, referee and his assistants have the opportunity to firstly review the incident from two big screen replays. If they are unable to determine whether the incident warrants a red card from those two replays, but judge that it at least meets a yellow card threshold, then the referee will issue the yellow card and cross his forearms above his head, signaling a formal referral to The Bunker for an official review.
They have up to eight minutes to look at the incident using all the technology. During that time the culprit sits it out in the sinbin anxiously waiting for what is coming at them down the line from Paris.
The shot clock is also designed to be fan-friendly and is designed to avoid time wasting and speed up play in a game that has enough natural pauses with scrums and lineouts. A digital countdown clock will inform players of the time remaining for taking conversions and penalty kicks.
To keep fans involved, World Rugby have stated they will work with broadcasters and match hosts to implement on-screen (stadia and broadcast) shot clocks for both penalties and conversions to ensure referees, players and fans can view the countdown in real time.
For a conversion the kicker has no more than 90 seconds to kick from the time the try was awarded, even if the ball rolls over and has to be placed again. If he takes too long, the kick is disallowed.
For penalties the kick must be taken within 60 seconds from the time the team indicated their intention to do so, even if the ball rolls over and has to be placed again. The sanction here is the kick is disallowed and a scrum is awarded.
