Wynne Gray: Referee pleads for help

Refereeing the first test of the 2013 Lions series in Australia should have been a highlight for Chris Pollock. Photo / Getty Images

A retiring Kiwi whistler has some ideas on how to improve the game.

Give Chris Pollock a magic wand. Or at least give him the chance to make some changes to the way rugby is refereed.

Pollock this week announced his retirement from refereeing after 192 first-class matches, 22 internationals, two Rugby World Cup tournaments, 70 Super Rugby matches and nine Ranfurly Shield challenges.

The 43-year-old would like to stay connected to the game and will pursue some ideas with New Zealand Rugby he thinks can help clean up the game.

Pollock would start with scrums, which need to be tidied up. Teams are trying to out-muscle each other and that should be retained, Pollock said, as long as they pushed straight ahead without wheeling contests.

"You could also stop the clock from the time we blow for a stoppage until the ball leaves the scrum," he said.

"Then in the tackle area, we want a zone that is 95 per cent understood. If we took the tackled player and the tackler out of the equation, it would change players' approach to the breakdown because they would not be looking to go off their feet and clean opponents out.

"We need to get the height up at the breakdown and anyone off their feet would be penalised."

The offside line was another issue facing the game.

"At the moment, we are looking at players being behind the last feet at a breakdown but that is too often marginal. If we could push them back a metre and get assistant referees to monitor that, I think it would help."

Pollock likes the idea of a television match official helping referees through a game with advice on foul play or something that should be looked at.

"I also like to be able to ask the TMO for help on the run, to ask him to check because we might catch a glimpse of something but we're not sure what has happened while he has the ability to go back and check for us.

"The negative might be there is more foul play picked up but isn't that an improvement? I also like the way we awarded tries when we backed our instincts but the TMOs could run a check as that happened and could alert us like they did at the World Cup, if something had happened."

"If I had my way, I would try and open up the protocols so you got the howlers in a try-scoring move regardless of how many phases you had to go back. People on TV see those things which lead up to a try so why shouldn't we do the same?"

Pollock also likes the idea of both coaches being allowed one challenge during each game.

Pollock is looking ahead to his second year as director of sport at Hastings Boys' High but is also reflecting on his refereeing career.

It was turbulent at times, and none more so than in 2013 when he controlled the first Lions test against the Wallabies when his breakdown decisions, in particular, drew heavy criticism from coach Warren Gatland.

That led to a frosty standoff between the pair while the British media climbed in to Pollock who ran touch for the final two tests. Gatland later made his peace with Pollock during the Six Nations but the ref returned to New Zealand with his confidence on the wane.

"In the last round of Super Rugby, I sent off Blues loosie Kane Barrett for grazing a guy's head with his boot. It was a poor decision and I dropped out of contention to referee the semis," he said.

Out of that adversity, Pollock sought help to cope with the big moments in games, the stress points for referees where he learned to grow from mistakes. He pushed through a recovery from a hip replacement last season to be part of the 12-man panel at the latest World Cup where he signed off as an assistant in the bronze playoff.