Robbed: The Hurricanes Story

One of the nice things about having a blog is that you can say anything you like. It doesn’t even really matter whether anyone reads it. The act of getting it out of your head and onto the keyboard is somewhat cathartic. And boy, do I need a vent right now.

It’s been almost 24 hours since the Hurricanes played the Sharks at Westpac Stadium in Wellington. The result could have a profound impact on the race for the semifinals, with the Sharks in the top four, and the Canes hovering just outside. And they would have been into the top four. Should have been into the top four. And why aren’t they, you ask? Because of a blinding piece of refereeing incompetence by Australian referee Paul Marks.

At the risk of incurring the wrath of Paddy O’Brien and being told to grow up, I have to point out the seriousness of this performance by the referee. Once again, poor decisions by the officials have had a marked effect on the outcome of not only the game, but possibly the tournament as a whole. Over the course of the game the standard of officiating was not terrible, but two or three big calls turned the tide.

The first was to award a penalty try to the Sharks for the Hurricanes collapsing a mall, which did not appear to have been collapsed at all. I can almost accept this given how hard it can be to tell exactly what goes on in a rolling maul. For all the new rules, the maul still looks like a mess (so does the ruck area for that matter). The real clanger was in the last act of the game, where the Hurricanes appeared for all money to have scored. Hell, they did score. The referee, however, called a Hurricanes knock on and blew for fulltime and a 13-all draw. No consultation with the touch judge (or assistant referee as they’re now known), no going upstairs for the television match official. The ref was too far from the action to be that authoritative. He also failed to ascertain whether Conrad Smith was taken out in the act of trying to chase the ball over the tryline.

Now if the Hurricanes miss out on the semifinals by one or two competition points, it’s unlikely that this particular referee will be called to account for having such a profound effect on the competition. Nor will he have to front up with the cash that Wellington and the WRFU might have made from a home semi that they’re almost certainly not going to get now. And that doesn’t even begin to address the question of my Virtual S14 points…

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