Walsh bigger shock than Welsh

8.00am - By DANIEL GILHOOLY

MELBOURNE - Who said there's been no surprises at the rugby World Cup?

In Melbourne Cup-speak, New Zealand referee Steve Walsh would have been rated worse than a roughie to control a quarterfinal at rugby's showpiece tournament. In most eyes he was all but scratched.

The North Harbour official's appointment to control Saturday's match between host nation Australia and Scotland is, quite bluntly, a shock selection. Wales beating the All Blacks wouldn't have raised as many eyebrows. Walsh beats the Welsh on that score.

Walsh was one of eight officials controlling just two pool games. Another eight, more experienced and more recognisable, had three apiece.

And Walsh's two games? Italy versus Tonga in Canberra and Japan versus the United States in Gosford. Blockbusters they were not.

Then comes October 26. Walsh is a lowly fourth official for the England-Samoa match and gets into a sideline altercation with England team official Dave Reddin during the "16th player" brouhaha.

A few days later Walsh finds himself on the end of an unprecendented punishment for an official -- suspended for three days for inappropriate behaviour. The same International Rugby Board (IRB)-appointed officials clear Reddin of any wrong-doing.

For a referee trying to make his way in the highly-politicised world of the IRB, could it get any worse?

Could it be that those same political machinations are what has now helped the young New Zealander progress? Walsh appeared to pay the price for being honest about the incident, so it could be that rugby's ruling body realise his penalty wasn't deserved.

But that could be doing Walsh a giant disservice. Perhaps he has been quite properly assessed as being among the world's four best referees.

Whatever the reason, the public won't know until well after the tournament has finished. Any issues involving referees, good or bad, are kept secret. The referees themselves are forbidden to speak to the media.

Whether Walsh was at fault for the England incident or not, he has been rewarded for keeping his dignity.

At stake now is a possible berth in the semifinals and even the final.

The other quarterfinal refs are South African Jonathan Kaplan, England's Tony Spreadbury and Ireland's Alain Rolland and are surely the only men in the way of another dramatic promotion.

Big names like South African Andre Watson, New Zealand's Paddy O'Brien and Paul Honiss and hometown boys Peter Marshall and Stuart Dickinson have missed the cut.

Their dreams of a final are gone unless the IRB take the unlikely approach of All Blacks coach John Mitchell and are resting their big guns for the biggest games to come.

- NZPA


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