Beware the man in the middle - Matt Goddard

Matt Goddard? Who the hell is Matt Goddard?

Before tomorrow is out, your clothes will be shredded, tufts of hair on the floor and you will be snarling at the incompetence of an Australian referee called Matt Goddard, who will be the man in the middle for tomorrow’s Test match between the Springboks and the All Blacks in Carisbrook.

This is not to seek any excuse for whatever way the test goes tomorrow, which is why we should put it on the table right now and ask what the hell are SANZAR thinking? And why does SA Rugby not call for competent refereeing, not just for one or two games, but all the time, every time at Super 14 and Test level.

Just two short weeks ago, in Cordoba Argentina, in a Test between Italy and Argentina, Mr Matt Goddard, the Australian referee, awarded 30 penalties and 40 set scrums, which is close to a penalty and a scrum every minute of the match. Who can play under conditions like that?

Then last year, in the Super 14, another Aussie, a coach by the name of Eddie Jones, previously associated with the Springboks, lambasted his own country man Matt Goddard, for being “ludicrous and disgraceful” for his lack of knowledge in handling the scrums. Eddie Jones was fined $10,000 by the ARU for that.

The IRB are supposed to be the custodians of the game internationally and to set standards, so instead of putting a competent unbiased Northern Hemisphere referee in charge of tomorrow’s humdinger, they have Paddy O’Brian (IRB Referee Chief) suggest that Peter de Villiers and Graham Henry can talk to Goddard before the game. That is not upholding standards. That is almost an admission that tomorrow’s game could be chaos, when what is needed is a man fully acquainted with the ELV’s.

A lot is riding on this game, as well as tens of millions of dollars in advertising and sponsorship revenues, not to mention that the IRB now see fit to shop the 2015 and 2019 Rugby World Cups at $100 million and $120 million respectively. The man in the middle must be one of integrity and a consummate professional.

Now I ask you with tears in my eyes, how on earth will this little tete a tete with Goddard before the game, improve the incompetence of Matt Goddard? It won’t.

So you and I and some Springbok and All Black supporters around the world, will most likely be looking at the prospect of the whistle being blown quite a few times tomorrow.

It is time the IRB safeguarded the integrity of refereeing and made sure that professional referees and assistant referees (touch judges to you and I) manage the game professionally. If they were unable to meet strict standards, leave them out in the cold. The potential loss of fat match fees and air miles will be enough to make the incompetent referees sort themselves out in no time.