They wouldn't, would they? Fears All Blacks will get referee Wayne Barnes for quarter final against France

Luke McAlister and Richie McCaw can't believe it as Wayne Barnes sends McAlister to the sin bin during the 2007 quarter final against France. Photo / Getty Images

Ali Williams says the All Blacks would embrace the appointment of Wayne Barnes to their "Cardiff Revisited" quarter final against France - but Sir Graham Henry isn't so sure.

The referee for Sunday morning's knockout match at Millennium Stadium will become known in the next 24 hours.

Any appointment of Barnes will create a mirror replica of the circumstances Henry and the All Blacks found themselves in eight years ago when they suffered a calamitous exit from the tournament.

Same team. Same stage of the tournament. Same stadium. Same referee.
You can almost hear the nation's knees playing cymbals now. The final touch of adding Barnes to the mix may be too much for the faint-hearted.

But if that's so among New Zealand rugby fans, Williams, among the players vanquished that night in 2007, says it's not so of this current crop of men in black.

Williams, writing last week in the NZ Herald, has already talked of how Richie McCaw's men would not be intimidated by the scenario they find themselves in and will actually welcome the opportunity to bury the '07 and French hoodoos once and for all.

But Henry didn't seem so sure in discussing the prospect of the controversial English referee being appointed to the All Blacks-France match.

When Newstalk ZB host Tony Veitch put it to Henry that it might be a good thing if Barnes gained the match, he got a jocular response but with an undertone.

"I don't know if I would go that far," the 2011 Cup-winning coach said.
When Veitch suggested Barnes was now a top referee, Henry replied: "I think there's one or two that might be a little bit better but we won't go into any more detail than that."

Unnecessarily provocative

While the tournament's top performing referees are set to control the four quarter finals, and Barnes is among them, it's less likely he will be given the whistle for Sunday's Cardiff encounter.

It would be unnecessarily provocative for World Rugby to appoint Barnes to the match and it is more likely that he will control the Wales-South Africa quarter.

With Welshman Nigel Owens widely regarded as within the top quartet, he cannot handle Wales-South Africa which also rules out Craig Joubert. Most pundits are tipping Barnes or one of the two top French whistleblowers will be given that match and Joubert or Owens will handle the All Blacks game.

Match appointments are made by a six-man selection committee which includes former New Zealand ref Lyndon Bray. He is joined by Sanzar colleague Andrew Cole, two ex-northern hemisphere refs, World Rugby's high performance match officials manager and a chairman.

Barnes has already handled the All Blacks once in this Cup. He had the whistle for New Zealand's opening group match where he sin-binned skipper Richie McCaw.

The still possible appointment of Barnes aside, Henry was not concerned that the scenario facing the All Blacks replicated eight years ago.

"I think that's a huge advantage," he said. "There's no surprises. Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith were there as well. Richie was the captain and there's a number of players still around who played in those days.

"That will be very much in the front of their minds and I think they will play well. They will be looking forward to that fixture and just putting a line through it, ruling it off, so we can all move on."
Henry said Hansen would be "pretty happy" with where his squad was at and they would "be on the job" against the French.