D'Arcy Waldegrave: Sportstalk host on Super Rugby officials confirming referees botched no-try call

An admission from Super Rugby officials that the refereeing panel made a mistake disallowing a Moana Pasifika try to Millennium Sanerivi in their victory over the Blues last weekend.

A try can only be overturned if there is an infringement in the final attacking passage of play - but they went back for a foot in touch earlier.

Sportstalk host D'Arcy Waldegrave explains further.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sports talk hosters with me.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
Hello Darce, Hello Heather. I miss you already. I'm sitting
in your chair. The dog's on the couch.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
I did you know what? Okay, so I'm I'm obviously
And did you know that I was in Wellington?

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Darcy, Well, you're not here. I was presuming there's a
budget coming up, so I suppose you'd migrate down to
the Halls of Powder to talk about.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
It makes sense you were already here to just keep
in our place for budget tomorrow. But I did say
to everybody, don't let Darcy touch any of the buttons
in that studio because I'm connected remotely, so don't touch
hands off.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Please to turn my mic on on Heather.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Apart from that, Dares, I cannot believe that the Super
Rugby officials have admitted that they got it wrong on
the field with that blinking try in the Muana pacifica game.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
It's a brave new world, isn't it. This is got
to these guys for doing this, what doing what well
for saying that we made a mess and we've been
a look at this because it was a mess. It
slowed the whole game down. It took nearly a couple
of minutes. Look, Hardie Save, I thought he knew it
was going on. The referee and the touch judges, they

(01:03):
thought they knew it was going on. The third official,
fourth official, what if you call them up on the box,
he thought he knew what was going on. None of
them knew what was going on. So the mistake was made.
And what it says about the new lords, because they've
changed a bit since the World Cup final back in
the day, is that if I talked Elliott Smith about that,

(01:26):
the commentator at the time he didn't know what was
going on either. So if you've got a captain of
a team, a brilliant All Black, a referee who hasn't
got international experience, a two touch judges, a TMO and
a commentator who don't know what's going on, there is
a problem with your law. So sort it out. So
they put their hand up and they're going to go
to World Rugby or maybe just do it themselves.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
But it does. Let's get to the nitty gritty here.
So what happened was actually that so that try was
disallowed in the fifty fifth minute because old mate who's
running up the wing you had put his foot into
the on the line right, correct.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
I know that got miss actually.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
Started, but which means and they counted that as part
of the attacking phase. But what they failed to take
into account was between that foot on the line and
the try fifty two seconds later, there was actually a
brief turnover of possession where the Blues took hold of
the ball, in which case the attacking phase starts after that,
which means that that foot on the line should never

(02:24):
have disqualified the try. It was not part of the
attacking phase.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
And is talking about this question to you?

Speaker 1 (02:30):
This is my question to you. If old mate sitting
in the box upstairs, the TMO is going to go
back through every single bit of that phase and got
all the way back to fifty two seconds and see
the truck, why did he not see the change in possession?

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Well, I think the problem is with this law is
it's in two parts. It's around when the transgression took place,
at what stage in the build up, and how it's applied.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
Either he either doesn't know the rules, Darcy, or he
didn't see the change in possession.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
No, he would have seen that. I believe from talking
to other people around it that the rules are a
bit convoluted when it comes to the stoppage and when
the infringement occurred, and what an infringement it actually was,
So there was nothing really definitive. It was an odd situation,
but they didn't know, they couldn't handle it. And all

(03:20):
I can say is thank goodness I didn't.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
Count down to see I opened the show with this
on Monday because it frustrated me so much. I got
a lot of texts saying, shut up, you don't know
anything about rugby because you're a girl.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Can you bet me a time? I'm not a girl?

Speaker 1 (03:35):
Okay, can you back me up on this?

Speaker 2 (03:37):
Though?

Speaker 1 (03:37):
If the refs themselves cannot understand the rules, then how
the hell are we as fans supposed to understand the rules.
Therefore the rules are dumb and need to be whittled
right down.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
If this has been the case right from the start,
MA till think about that. There's a rule in rugby.
I think it's low ten dot four slaves two and
you know what it says. The reef's decision is the
last word. That's it, And you want to go right
the way back that and go well, the referee actually
said that's the case, So we just got to run
with it. If you want to be really pedantic, he's

(04:12):
got the final say or she has got the final say.
You can argue all you want, but if you go
picked through the the minutiae of the law book, you'll
find that and go, oh, the riff can do it
they want. I mean, it's a street to argue that,
but it's in there.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
At the moment.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
I don't hate rugby. This season heathered at plus Yellen
has been astonishingly good.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
I wouldn't know us because I've had a guts full
and to give it a.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
New start, I mean, come on, you've got to So
what happens when they get a new leader of a
political party. You got to had it with that political party,
or you give them a chance to maybe reshape, reform
and starts the hook.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
I'll tell you what, if you want a political analogy,
phone is off the hook right now with rugby because
rugby has got terrible rules, just like a party that's
got terrible policies changed.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
Break down on the turnover, Amaze, the game is on
fire right now. Hither you are an army of one
right now?

Speaker 1 (05:07):
Oh you are bollocks.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
Watch the game and come back to me any game.
In fact, watch Ardie Savia in that game and tell
me this game is bollocking, because.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
It is okay. Thanks d Thanks Darcy Watergrove Sportstal Coast,
seven o'clock tonight, bollocks. You nap off now, you nap off.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
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