Three away wins on the opening weekend of the Six Nations and two home wins in the second round. But still, the 2024 championship already has a consistent theme. The five teams are constantly fighting for rhythm and revitalizing Ireland on a completely different level and showing the rest of the field how it can and should be done.
Even the brightest young man Irish anthem singer It was an interruption compared to Saturday’s two matches, both of which were modest in terms of overall quality. Scotland should have outpaced France again and England could not have complained so loudly about Wales being calloused at Twickenham. The lasting memory will be the finesse of the final margins rather than the superior standard of play.
Relating to: Dan Sheehan doubles Ireland’s Six Nations victory over Italy
Increasingly, this doesn’t feel entirely coincidental. Because rugby union has put itself in a difficult position about exactly what kind of spectacle it wants to be. It was never intended to be a sport defined by slide rule pedantry. Unfortunately, this is now becoming the default setting, as further highlighted by the dreadful, unsatisfying finish to the match at Murrayfield at the weekend.
No wonder Gregor Townsend was so aggrieved afterwards. Listening to referee Nic Berry, it was both frustrating and worrying that in the end he was given up on making a demonstrably correct call in favor of flawed protocol. If this is good news for France (credit to the quick-witted colleague who came up with the nickname Nic Beret), this convoluted logic is exactly what rugby did not need when trying to attract new audiences.
Can you imagine something similar happening in the Super Bowl? TV replays of the game-winning late goal being seen on the big screen in the stadium for everyone at home to see, only for the referees to ignore it because key footage was only around 95% clear instead of 100%? Once upon a time the referee’s call was sacred; There are now too many cooks examining excessive amounts of slow-motion evidence. This leaves rugby stranded in no man’s land, where, among other disadvantages, numerous high-definition cameras still cannot tell whether a crucial try has been scored.
A narrow call in any era? Maybe, but it’s time to take a step back and consider how technology has tied sports into complex knots. If the eye in the sky cannot be precise, why should it be completely straitjacketed? What happened to the overwhelming balance of probabilities as opposed to “hard evidence”? And how many more results do you need than a ball clearly sliding off the French leg and onto the grass? If it looks like a pig and sounds like a pig, it tends to be a pig. Instead, trying to obtain an incredibly high level of evidence, authorities ended up turning it into a pig’s ear.
Similar confusion prevails in other areas of the game. Once again we saw a large, long lock forward; In this case, England’s Ollie Chess was consigned to the sin bin for a challenge that, when viewed in real time and its moderate strength taken into account, does not seem like the most heinous of crimes. It slowed down and froze at the point where the head hit, but it looked even worse. This meant he went to the shelter to be reconsidered. Everyone wants safer play and fewer high tackles, but common sense needs to remain part of the equation.
Then Mason Grady was shown a yellow card for a “deliberate kick” at a crucial late corner when Wales were still ahead. After allowing Henry Slade to slot the ball over his chest at the last moment, the Welshman had almost no chance of controlling his reflexive movement towards the ball. That’s okay: rugby has become so zero-tolerant and so rigidly dictatorial that referee James Doleman had to reach into his pocket when slow-motion replays made fingertip contact.
Put it all together and what do you have? Players constantly walking on a tightrope, referees in an almost impossible position, games decided by fractions that no one sitting on their couch at home would understand, let alone in a crowded stadium 100 meters away. This just breeds doubt, frustration, and more and more accusations of inconsistency. After the narrow escape in Scotland, should every try now be subject to micro-analysis? For example, did Elliot Daly’s pass fly forward for Fraser Dingwall’s vital try? Should George Ford’s slight adjustment of his feet before firing into goal really be the start of his run? Can modern rugby see the forest for the trees?
So where does it stand? A visitor from Mars might ask: Why are upside-down forward rides by a series of human battering rams near the try line considered good for everyone’s health when wearing a relatively harmless seatbelt is okay? Why are Scrum resets allowed to take up so much significant time? Why does the game increasingly feel like a tool that two teams of litigious plaintiffs can argue over indefinitely?
It is slowly driving many people crazy, and the Six Nations are in danger of becoming even poorer because of it. As Ronan O’Gara shared on social media on Saturday: “Is there any other sport where referees have such an impact? ‘Too many rules/laws… too complicated.’ O’Gara loves the game of rugby as much as anyone. He’s more into the details than most. When someone of his intelligence, experience and stature believes a rethink is necessary, authorities would be wise to listen.