TACTICAL SILENCE: Boks, All Blacks decline referee meetings due to new protocols

All Blacks coach Dave Rennie and Bok counterpart Rassie Erasmus confirmed that there will be no meeting with referee Matt Carley before the first Test at Ellis Park because of the new protocols.

World Rugby’s latest protocols, strictly limiting the amount of feedback to officials, as well as changing the rules about engaging with them, have left both the Boks and All Blacks in a strange position.

Until this July, coaching teams were allowed to give unlimited feedback via email directly to officials. That has now changed to uploading a maximum of six clips and accompanying notes to World Rugby’s Athlete Management System (AMS).

That is slightly problematic as it limits dialogue on areas of concern, but the flipside is that it also keeps teams focused on the main problem areas, and not every perceived injustice.

The second new protocol, and the one that will have a direct impact on this series, is that the coaching staff of any team can only meet with the referee before a Test with the approval of the opposing team, and with them in attendance.

Good, some might say. But there are some very compelling reasons why coaches may want to meet with a referee before a Test, and not only to try to get in their good books.

It’s also likely to lead to a situation where teams are unhappy with certain aspects of the opposition, and the only way they can express that view is via the media.

The All Blacks have already done it with their view that South African teams, and the Boks, try to slow the game down. They want the game to be faster.

And in response, Bok coach Rassie Erasmus and laws manager Jaco Peyper used their Monday media briefing to counter that narrative.

At the best of times, coaches are cautious about commenting on referees in public (as Erasmus well knows), but now they are using the media to plant ideas in officials’ heads.

In most sports, a pre-match meeting with the referee would not really matter, but rugby has so many opaque areas, and so many laws that have loopholes that are open to interpretation.

Occasionally a coach wants to forewarn a referee about a certain trick play they might use, which falls within the laws, but they just want to ensure the referee understands the law, especially in the heat of battle.

“I think there’s definitely frustration from the coaches that you can’t have meetings with the referee if both teams don’t agree,” Erasmus said.

“It’s now at a stage where you almost accept both teams’ coaches aren’t always going to agree to a pre-match meeting.