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SYDNEY - International Rugby Board (IRB) referees' boss Paddy O'Brien says there is no room for coaches publicly criticising referees, and they will be sanctioned for doing so at the World Cup.
New Zealand's O'Brien, in Sydney to discuss the trialling of new laws in the Australian domestic competition, refused to directly discuss Queensland Reds coach Eddie Jones' stinging criticism of referee Matt Goddard at the weekend.
But he urged coaches to go through the proper channels.
"Coaches mouthing off and blaming referees, doesn't do the game, referees or coaches any good," O'Brien said.
O'Brien confirmed written complaints backed by video evidence would be given serious consideration by the IRB at this year's World Cup, but any public post-match criticism would be punished by fines or suspension.
"The really good coaches, and the teams that seem to be at the top of the world at the moment, are the ones that are very proactive in submitting reports to me, accompanied by clips where they think they've been hard done by.
"Those reports carry a lot of weight with our IRB referee selectors."
O'Brien said referees were accountable for their mistakes and the IRB referee selectors would come down harshly on errors to ensure a high quality.
"We saw a bad call in November when England weren't awarded a try against the All Blacks. We've been quite proactive in the media and saying the referee made a huge mistake, and we deal with that in our selection meetings."
Jones faces a judicial hearing before Super 14 governing body Sanzar later this week for his criticism of Goddard after the Reds' narrow loss to the ACT Brumbies at the weekend.
He faces possible suspension for several matches and/or a fine, but the outspoken former Wallabies coach wasn't backing down today.
"I think I have a duty as coach to support my team to ensure we believe we get a fair go and the comments I have made have been in line with that," Jones said.
"I think it is important to have a code of conduct. I don't think you can continuously criticise any part of the game.
"You have to have some objectivity but at the same time if there is something wrong in the game you have to be able to voice it.
"As long as you don't do it all the time, there needs to be a channel for it."
Jones said referees needed to be accountable and called for them to attend post-match press conferences to explain their decisions, an innovation blocked by Sanzar last year.
- NZPA
