The former All Blacks coach no longer wants to referee by video

Assistant coach (2004-2011) and then All Blacks coach (2011-2019), Steve Hansen led New Zealand to two consecutive world titles. A unique performance in 2015 but has since been equaled by South Africa, the two-time world champion since last Saturday. The former national team coach was clearly in front of his television set to watch the exciting and tense final, which was marred by several controversial refereeing decisions. After the game, Blacks coach Ian Foster had a few words to say about it: “I don’t think Barnes should be blamed for that. But our sport has a problem, linked to decisions that we want to be able to correct, and that’s what I find sad about this final.

“It’s time to move away from video refereeing.”

A few days later, his predecessor, Steve Hansen, spoke Sky Sports New Zealand. He has also stepped up to the plate against current arbitration abuses, and is calling for a comprehensive overhaul of video assistance.

“Rugby is now officiated in slow motion, and it is time to move the video referee away from situations where the referee wants to validate the try. Another thing, the video referee only intervenes when something is missed. When the referee makes a mistake we no longer hear it.” A typical Ardi case “I don’t care if the referee didn’t see the slow motion, I saw it. Ardi clearly slowed down and should have been given a penalty, not penalized.”

The 64-year-old former coach echoes a penalty given too early in the match against Ardi Savea for not releasing the South African before the competition. In slow motion, we can already see that the New Zealand number 8 was in a good position during the play.