Our distinguished chair emeritus Peter Buckley approached me with a great idea a couple weeks ago - we can have virtual coaching sessions about Super Rugby games, so that we can simultaneously get our rugby fix while also working on our refereeing skills in our extended off-season. He would choose a game each week and write up discussion notes, designed to get us thinking about the game critically as a referee. I love this idea, and committed to creating video clips from a few of his notes for each match, and then posting them to the website.
The first game he chose was the Hurricanes vs Blues match from last week. This was a fun scrappy game that was close right up until the very end. The analysis offered below should get you thinking about what you would do in a similar situation, and what you could do to make the right calls in a local match. Try to make a decision first without looking at the laws, and then go to the law book. Do you still think your decision was right? Think about the positioning of the ref, and whether his positioning would work in your games, where you're unlikely to have ARs and TMO.
If you are able to watch the full game, then check out Peter’s full game notes at https://drive.google.com/file/d/11Ur1RAvwHCSTs1HZVJSpHxgxaSyG0X-U/view?usp=sharing . I have enabled comments on this document; yes, I’m aware of how comments on the internet often go, but I think we’re a boutique enough community that I’m willing to risk it, at least at first. Just please be cognizant that you’re posting to a broad forum and try to represent our community well.
If you’re not able to watch the full game, or if you just want some highlights, I’ve posted select clips here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQj0xNNnheM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjHrmTVwioU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jo5uhUXAPps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkfysfgKg24
I am looking forward to continuing this - I got a lot out of reading Peter’s discussion points, and I had a lot of fun making these clips. I look forward to hearing what you think of them - feel free, as always, to email me at pnrrschair@gmail.com.