Foul play under the spotlight of Sanzar

Sanzar officials are considering significant changes to the judicial system for next year's Super 14 and Tri-Nations competitions.

The Herald understands a review of the citing procedures has been circulated to Sanzar officials and as a starting point suggests three options to improve the present system.

New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Chris Moller confirmed that a report put together by Auckland lawyer Mike Heron, a partner in the firm Meredith Connell, is being assessed by South African, Australian and New Zealand officials.

Among issues raised are having citing commissioners employed full-time by Sanzar, with their numbers trimmed to a more streamlined version of the present operation (reasoning that fewer voices will lead to greater consistency in decision-making), having three commissioners based in one place, viewing games by video and making decisions in consultation, and having the television match official (TMO) double as the citing commissioner.

If Sanzar opted for locating three commissioners in one country, South Africa is believed to be regarded as the best of the three countries, from a time zone perspective.

The benefits would be the ease of communication, a support system between the three and having an element of peer review (which might help reduce fluctuations in penalties handed out to players).

As for the television match official option, one drawback is that the official may be seen to be insufficiently independent of the referee in matches they are working together.

One suggestion is for a report system between a referee and the TMO.

If a referee is not able to clearly see and rule on possible foul play, he could signal to the TMO recommending the citing commissioner take a close look at the incident on video.

Moller said Heron spoke to a group of about 80 officials covering all aspects of rugby in Sydney last month and has prepared alternatives for consideration.

"There's no constraint in terms of the review," he told the Herald last night. But he stressed much work was needed before any changes would be implemented.

Moller talked of the importance of "calibrating procedures" to ensure a tighter, smoothly run operation and of educating commentators - and by extension the public - on the citing process.

"There have been times where concerns have been expressed over how the citing and judiciary process has been working. Everything is on the agenda, nothing is excluded," Moller said.

There was no confirmed date for the Sanzar executive committee - which comprises two members from each country - to meet and assess Heron's final recommendations.

This year's competitions would operate on a "status quo with improvements" basis, Moller said.

Technically, it would be easier for Sanzar to make changes to the Super 14 than the Tri-Nations, which is subject to International Rugby Board regulations.

But Moller said philosophically Sanzar preferred to align its competitions with the IRB rather than run under different rules, which has led to confusion.

Moller said if Sanzar felt it had come up with changes which would benefit the international game it could present a case to the IRB.