Rugby: Referees' boss admits video man got Wellington try wrong

By CHRIS RATTUE

The head of New Zealand's rugby referees, Keith Lawrence, has conceded that video official Gary Wise blundered in awarding an early try to Wellington in their NPC semifinal win over Auckland at Eden Park.

Lawrence had no hesitation in admitting his official's mistake in allowing wing Brad Fleming the touchdown, which gave Wellington a 12-3 lead on Friday night.

Video decisions in both rugby and rugby league are sometimes disputed, but Wise's ruling was inexplicable - the most blatant case imaginable of the video man getting it wrong.

Fleming, who failed to ground the ball in Doug Howlett's tackle, even gave the game away by showing obvious disappointment as referee Steve Walsh called for the video decision.

There were inevitable claims that the wrong ruling was not crucial to the final result, given the fact that Wellington went on to such a commanding win. But it is impossible to determine how big an effect such a critical early ruling can have, and Lawrence was not hiding from that fact.

"He made a mistake - he got it wrong," said Lawrence, the New Zealand Rugby Union's head of referee development.

"We've already discussed it with him.

"Any act of error by an official has to be looked at in assessing his future.

"But it doesn't mean he's going to get dropped. We've just got to do it better."

Meanwhile, Lawrence said the use of video in the NPC might be reviewed at the end of the season with other matters such as the introduction of "neutral" touch judges.

The video referee is being used only for the semifinals and final because television replays were not available in all NPC round-robin games.

Lawrence said there might be consideration to using video in any NPC game where replays were available.

There have also been claims during the year that the local touch judges used in NPC games are not up to scratch.

In particular, North Harbour were upset by a series of touch judge decisions when they played Northland in Whangarei earlier in the season.