No TMO = Too Many O Shit Moments
There’s been a lot of biffo in the media after the Hawke Eyes were robbed of a legitimate try on Thursday.
Strange of course that it always seem the big teams like the Cantabs that get the luck of the draw. If anything, you would have expected a home town decision.
Indeed, Chris Rattue notes in the Granny:
It even makes you wonder if reputations hold sway, whether the Canterbury aura and the presence of Richie McCaw and co subconsciously persuaded the officials not to make a tough ruling against them.
Regardless of the merits of the decision – and quite frankly, there weren’t many! – the real issue is the idiotic decision of the NZRFU to ditch the TMOs for the NPC.
It saved a couple of hundred grand but in the wider scheme of things that’s a high cost to pay for little benefit.
Indeed, as many are pointing out, with a little innovation, the same cameras that deliver the punter sitting at home a clear view could have been used by the match officials. Indeed, this is the model used by the NFL where the same match officials use the same video footage we all see.
Heck, if you want to go the whole NFL ten years (and that’s a first down baby!) then you could even use a challenge system. Any excitement would normally help this year’s flacid NPC.
The NZRFU apparently are justifying their decision on the basis that the officials have got it 90% right.
That clearly won’t impress a team like HB if it misses out on a home semi (or inded the semi finals) on the basis of points it could have got through a 10 % decision that was patently wrong to everyone apart from Blind Bob on the sideline.
You’d be right pissed off if you put the house on a draw or a two points spread.
Bet ya the tab won’t refund monies either – if the punter makes a mistake, the punter pays but if the NZRFU or the officials stuff up, the punters still pay.
Let’s leave the final words to Chris Rattue:
The NZRU must consider re-introducing the video referee, and this should be easier to do in a new 10-team competition. Credibility and sporting justice is suffering without the video inspection.