Russell slams referee standards

Wairarapa-Bush rugby coach Peter Russell has not been impressed by the standard of refereeing in NPC third division matches this season.
He said too many of the so-called promising referees who were appointed to matches at that level didn't have a feel for the game.
"They might know the rules but it's how you interpret them which counts ," he said. "You need to be able to communicate with players so that they know where you are coming from."
Russell isn't blaming referee Jonathan White for Wairarapa-Bush's decisive defeat at the hands of Poverty Bay in the third division final at Gisborne on Saturday.
But he admits to "huge frustration" at Poverty Bay being awarded a try after a blatant knock on and at his loose forwards being regularly penalised in the tackle situation for infringements which they could not comprehend.
"If it was frustrating for those of us watching on you can imagine how frustrating it must have been for the players," he said.
Russell believes one of the country's top ranked referees should have been appointed to the Gisborne match.
"The third division final is very important for the teams taking part and they deserve a top referee," he said. "But most of them seemed to be either reffing or touch judging the first division semis."
Russell was pleased with the strong start made by Wairarapa-Bush in Saturday"s match, but disappointed they were unable to turn their territorial advantage into a handy lead on the scoreboard.
"We bombed a couple of tries and you wonder what might have happened had we nailed them," he said. "It might have been a whole different game."
Russell conceded that Wairarapa-Bush's defence-one of their better attributes through most of the season- was not as tight as it could have been, particularly in the backs
"They (Poverty Bay) had players running onto the ball at speed and we struggled to stop their momentum," he said.
The lack of variety in their attacking play also hampered Wairarapa-Bush with Russell agreeing they all too often kept moving the ball in the one direction.
"The game plan was to use the short side more, but we lost sight of that," he said. "We made it too easy for their defence."
Looking at the season as a whole Russell is delighted with his team's effort of making the third division final, a major improvement on their performance in 2003.
"We have come a long way and Saturday's loss shouldn't detract from that," he said.
"Everybody worked hard to get where we did and they can feel happy about what they've achieved".
Russell is yet to decide whether he will stand again as coach for the 2005 season and he has not heard of any of the current squad members giving the game away.
" We'll probably have more idea of who is doing what in the next week or two," he said.