Christmas Day, 1989, Bucharest. The communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena were executed; the revolution was well and truly underway.
It also signalled the start of rugby’s demise in Romania, the state coffers ceasing to fund the army and police teams and what had been, in essence, a professional side, was no more. Along the way they had claimed some mighty scalps, beating France, Wales and Scotland, plus securing a draw with Ireland at Lansdowne Road.
I first dipped my toe into international waters in early 1984, when Scotland beat Wales in Cardiff, the first hurdle in becoming Grand Slam winners. Then, in May, I found myself in Bucharest to handle Scotland’s match against the home nation, who, in perhaps their most famous victory, overcame the Five Nations champions, 28-22.
Saturday’s Rugby World Cup clash with Ireland however was an absolute rout as Ireland ran in 12 tries and it might well have been more. Romania clearly cannot cope with modern-day professionalism.
The referee Nika Amashukeli again showed his ability and high-level elite potential. His reading of the breakdown was really good, and he is only heard when necessary – a very welcome change.
So, Ireland are up and running, the engine well-oiled, but the post-match celebrations need to be mentioned. Mack Hansen had probably given away his shorts but parading in his underwear wasn’t a particularly decorous sight. Hopefully, it was a once off, so to speak.
Friday night, and the waiting was over, at last we were underway. France v New Zealand took some time to get going, apart from an extraordinarily quick try by the men in black. But when it did we were treated to a fine spectacle, befitting of the opening match.
Jaco Peyper was in charge, and it was a good appointment. Peyper did what Peyper does, and the teams will have prepared well for him, no surprises. Well, only a few.
Some referees are lucky, and some are unlucky, with all the latters’ errors being doubly magnified because decisions have affected the final scoreline. The South African, and his fellow officials, used up a large slice of their good fortune, in my opinion, on three important occasions.
Between them all, they made a dog’s dinner of Thomas Ramos conversion of Melvyn Jaminet’s try. One assistant stuck his flag up, signalling it went over, the other didn’t signal at all, and the conversion put France on 29 points, later reduced to 27; shambolic. The luck was that it wasn’t a kick to win the match. And, please, why wasn’t it sent to the TMO, did nobody think of that? It’s what’s supposed to happen.
Earlier, France had been defending when New Zealand went way past the ruck, clearly “taking out” a defender. Not picked up by anyone, and a penalty to New Zealand quickly followed; that’s three points.
And then there were was a five-pointer to debate. Assistant Karl Dickson advised a French side entry as they swarmed in attack. It did not seem to meet the clear and obvious criteria, but Peyper whistled it. New Zealand kicked to touch, won the lineout, then manufactured a truly wondrous try, Mark Telea’s second. That’s eight questionable points in total, but the decisions didn’t matter as France were ultimately in the clear by 14. Lady Luck just might not be so kind next time.
While the bunker was busy, it really should have had more work on its plate.
It was called on to adjudicate Tom Curry’s head-on-head challenge in the England v Argentina game. The red card outcome has split opinion right down the middle. My view on it is that Curry could clearly see the ball carrier, Juan Cruz Mallia, as he landed. Did he have time to bend into the tackle, thus making it safe? I believe yes, and let’s not forget that no malice or intent are necessary to qualify for the ultimate sanction.
That’s the third in four matches for England so they still have a hell of a lot of technique work to do. Mathieu Raynal reffed it pretty well, despite the unexpected one-way traffic it turned out to be; he kept the lid on an ever simmering pot.
South Africa v Scotland saw a bad case of officiating failure. Referee Angus Gardner and his TMO, Ben Whitehouse, didn’t even consider that Jesse Kriel’s hit on Scotland’s Jack Dempsey reached the yellow card threshold. So, beggaring all belief, it never went to the bunker for review.
Neither were Scotland squeaky clean, the ineffective, frustrated Finn Russell being extremely fortunate to avoid the bin. It’s hard not to wonder whether different hemisphere referee interpretations were at play, in both this and the Kriel incident.
Wales v Fiji saw Mathew Carley in charge. His performance will need to be reviewed in depth and the islanders have every reason to be furious. Desperate goal-line defending by Wales saw them conceding repeated penalties, with Carley keeping his cards firmly in his pocket. Surely a yellow had to come? When it eventually did it was for a Fijian defensive lapse. It was a correct call, but contrasted severely with the lack of similar sanction for Wales.
Referee manager Joël Jutge has quite a bit of work on his hands, the match officials must all be consistent, that is the golden key. Considering the huge amount of pre-tournament preparation, it’s work which he will hardly have anticipated being necessary. It’s serious stuff.
