TMO's not perfect but don't give him red card

Why after more than 20 years are we still allowing the Luddite tendency to question the role of the TMO? On BT Sport’s Rugby Tonight programme, one of the guests was JP Doyle, shamefully made redundant by the RFU. Now refereeing in the US league, he was part of the panel that discussed the use of the TMO – it was dispiriting to hear the same old ground still being debated, and fascinating because of what wasn’t mentioned.

- COLIN BOAG

Austin Healey has consistently questioned the use of the TMO, and said that after 12 years it ‘still isn’t working perfectly’, which is a remarkable comment – we had referees for over a hundred years before the TMO was brought in, and that was far from perfect! He then went on to say that ‘you don’t want to make the game too sterile – you want a couple of occasions when the ref gets it wrong…because it gives you conversation points’!

This isn’t a local club’s Third XV we’re talking about, but high stakes professional sport, where winning and losing involves big money, and where jobs are on the line. You have to wonder whether, in his playing days, Austin would have treated a questionable decision from a ref with such equanimity.