Owen Doyle: Matthew Carley promised cards for backchat but didn’t deliver

Not a great weekend for the Irish teams, not by any stretch of the imagination. Both Connacht and Ulster went down to heavy defeats, Munster provided a disappointing draw, with Leinster supplying the sole win.

But, mon Dieu, what a win it was. In atrocious conditions we saw a truly ferocious contest, with no love lost whatsoever between these two teams. Leinster fully deserved their victory, it was a much-needed psychological boost against their nemesis of the past three seasons. Thinking and believing you can do it is a far cry from actually achieving it.

Horrid weather, a very hostile crowd, and the level of non-stop physical intensity provided a mighty challenge for English referee Matt Carley. He came in under immense pressure, but remained calm throughout. Neither did he shirk some tight enough calls against the home team, including the correct disallowing of a try by Levani Botia. Carley also cleaned up an unseemly brawl, one player from each team sent to the bin was a good outcome.

However, not only the captains, but any player, felt they could openly query, debate, or appeal the referee’s decisions. At one point he pronounced that any more such chat would result in a yellow card, but, while it did continue, the referee left his cards in his pocket. Perhaps he was wise, but it’s hardly a good idea to threaten what you then really don’t wish to deliver.

The Counter Ruck: the rugby newsletter from The Irish Times

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Carley understandably had enough of James Ryan quite early on, preferring to deal with co-captain Garry Ringrose. Fair enough, I suppose, but the home team’s skipper, Pierre Bourgarit, was seldom out of the referee’s ear, from start to finish.

But the breakdown needs close examination. It’s been a worsening and irritating bête-noir for over a year now, with ever increasing leeway allowed by referees to the team in possession. Arriving players, in support of the tackled ball carrier, are allowed to straddle over and past the ball with their hands firmly on the ground; small pods of two or three players are also permitted to position themselves beyond the ball.

These are actions which protect the ball, and prevent any semblance of a contest for possession which is, after all, the heartbeat of the game. Unsanctioned, old fashioned sealing off, and side-entry were also added to the mix on Sunday, Ryan getting away with a colossal side entry. The captain also should not have escaped punishment for clear lineout interference on a crucial attacking La Rochelle throw-in.

Materially different is the treatment of defending players. These are pinged immediately for touching the ground with their hands beyond the ball – “taking the space”, we are told reliably by the referees. Quite so, but that is precisely what the team in possession is doing. The problem with allowing that little leeway is that it invariably becomes stretched way past the limits of whatever was intended. That’s where it is now, and change is sorely needed, including the outlawing of the elongated, intolerable caterpillar ruck, the slow ball which eventually emerges results inevitably in yet another kick.

At Thomond Park, Munster gave up a very handy half-time lead, and Bayonne got in for a draw at the death. Luke Pearce was in charge, having an armchair ride compared to what Carley faced. The English Premiership apart, Pearce has not been seen since the pool stages of the World Cup, where surprisingly, for no apparent reason, he did not receive any appointment (referee or assistant) in the knock-out stages.

There is no doubting that he is a good, accurate referee, and clearly loves the role. But do we need referees to be so very verbose? It was all a bit too much to take, and hardly appropriate.

There was only one issue of foul play, which Pearce dealt with well, checking on the screen he deduced that a penalty only would suffice. Importantly, we could follow his reasoning, rather than the bunker system where we cannot. It did not take long, and that is probably the result of some very detailed work undertaken recently by match officials, under the guidance of Joël Jutge, in calibrating foul play offences.

Similarly in the Toulon v Exeter game, Irishman Chris Busby’s decision for a yellow card also appeared accurate, and was explained well. Referees taking ownership of these decisions looks, and is, far better than the anonymous bunker.

Connacht were well and truly put to the sword by Bordeaux-Bègles, with another Englishman, Karl Dickson, in charge. He can be very quick on the draw penalty-wise, particularly at the breakdown. Difficulties in the scrum saw both of Connacht’s props withdrawn after just 40 minutes, with Finlay Bealham worryingly penalised on several occasions. His long body position did little to prevent him from pancaking on to the turf.

Dickson is scheduled to referee the vital France v Ireland match in the Six Nations, and Andy Farrell will undoubtedly want to sort out scrum and breakdown interpretations before then. There’ll be ample opportunity to check it all out in the coming weeks, and to put Dickson’s modus operandi under the microscope.

Finally, there must be a very genuine concern that Irish teams had so many significant negative scrum issues. It’s a problem searching for a solution, matches are devilishly hard to win without at least parity in this critical area. The next few weeks will tell a lot.