Epic wins for Leinster and for Ulster. Bilbao, more a home to a Guggenheim Museum than to rugby, will host both European finals in three weeks’ time when the city will be taken over by hordes of visiting Irish supporters. It’s hard not to dream: could we win one? Two would really do the trick – what a result that would be.
Leinster’s Caelan Doris had a magnificent match against Toulon, but, playing on the edge, which he must, he has a habit of keeping a needless penalty offence or two up his sleeve. In the final there likely won’t be room for something as unnecessary as he did on Saturday.
Luke Pearce was in charge and we got both sides of his personality. He started off well, composed and mercifully quiet, and I had hopes that this undoubtedly good referee would keep things that way.
But there is a Mr Hyde to his Dr Jekyll, and bit by bit we got more and more non-stop communication, peppered with a sprinkling of very average French. Whether he means it or not, Pearce often becomes the centre of attention as does his TMO, “Tempo” – Ian Tempest to you and me. The two appeared to be in cahoots throughout the afternoon.
But the referee did need help in confirming or ruling out some touchdowns, with Pearce caught completely out of position, unable to make the calls himself. It’s a pretty common defect nowadays, as, knowing the TMO is on hand, officials can get lazy, drop their work-rate, failing to move into the optimum position without delay. In fairness, this aspect improved somewhat in the second half.
[ Owen Doyle: All referees should have a serious rethink about how they address players ]
Taking players out off the ball is now fast becoming the new pastime and we saw plenty of it over the weekend.
Here’s just two from this match: Tommy O’Brien was clearly barged after he had kicked ahead. Toulon’s Setariki Tuicuvu was also bowled over while minding his own business. Positioned to defend he was no more part of the ruck than the man in the moon.
Extraordinarily, neither caught the attention of Pearce or Tempest, so went unpunished. The Tuicuvu incident was slap bang in front of the assistant referee, who seemed to have a clear view, but he didn’t get involved.
Leinster nearly gave us a perfect demonstration of how to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Toulon may well be furious that Pearce wasn’t kinder to them as the clock ran down, their stirring comeback finally faltering on a no-arms tackle by their Argentinian outhalf Tomás Albornoz on Jamie Osborne. But it’s not the referee’s job to be kind; the reality is that the visitors can’t complain – the decision was correct. Although, it must be said, we’ve seen these not given, even though these are inherently highly dangerous.
For some unfathomable reason, the top referees don’t seem to want to make life easier for themselves. Instead, a lot of tolerated back chat was, once again, an all-too-regular feature of the semi-finals.
Toulon’s Jérémy Sinzelle should have been reprimanded by the referee. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/INPHO
Early on Pearce warned Toulon for it, presumably meaning that he wouldn’t tolerate any more. But twice Jérémy Sinzelle didn’t oblige, and at least a penalty was needed. But all he got from Pearce was: “If you run at me like that again, you’ll leave the field.” That really was not enough and it sets a terrible example for players and referees at all levels.
Surprisingly, many scrum penalties went the way of Leinster, with Toulon bound to have questions about some of these. However, as that’s the way the referee saw things, it’s hard to understand why the concession of as many as six sanctions in this phase didn’t lead to a card for repeated infringements.
Toulon are also likely to ask why Pearce brought play to a halt when Robbie Henshaw was knocked into oblivion early in the encounter. The visitors were heading into Leinster’s 22 and a try-scoring opportunity may well have beckoned.
Nothing but nothing should take precedence over player welfare and safety, but play was heading well away from the injured player. And the medics had rushed on to do their job. My understanding is that referees must stop play if matters are close to where there is an injured player, but otherwise play on and let the medical experts deal with it.
The second semi-final saw Bordeaux Bègles see off visitors Bath after a mighty struggle. While it’s important for commentators to be balanced, Lawrence Dallaglio spent too much time nit-picking referee Nika Amashukeli’s decisions.
However, the real controversy came with the failure of the television director to show dangerous head contact on Bath’s Alfie Barbeary. The TMO was Welshman Ben Whitehouse, and performing the role in France often takes on an extra degree of difficulty. It’s been going on for donkeys years now and remains an unacceptable disgrace that the TV director controls what is shown on replay and what is not.
The worst foul on Barbeary therefore was not shown – and the home team escaped a definite yellow card, bordering on a red. Bath can be seriously aggrieved, and, while it’s unlikely to have cost them the match, the point is we’ll never know. But this is a matter of the highest import, so the competition organisers must sort it out.
If the team of match officials makes an error, then that’s one thing, but when the broadcaster gets involved then the process inevitably becomes unfairly skewed in favour of the home team.
However, it now seems that the EPCR, the governing body of the European competitions, has had enough and the appointment of an independent TV director is on the cards. And that is definitely the way to go for the future.