England great slams Fabien Galthie and the latest example of ‘official-blaming’ following on from ‘Donald Trump-like’ Rassie Erasmus
France head coach Fabien Galthie and Springboks boss Rassie Erasmus.
Brian Moore has called on World Rugby to review their protocols and potentially increase protection for referees after Fabien Galthie laid into the officiating at the weekend.
France’s head coach made his feelings known after Antoine Dupont ruptured his ACL, criticising Angus Gardner for not taking action against Ireland duo Andrew Porter and Tadhg Beirne.
Galthie stated that he had cited both players in his report, but it was not taken up by the commissioner as Beirne and Porter escaped possible sanction.
Moore duly criticised the 55-year-old’s decision to call out the match officials after the game.
‘Pressurising’ the referees
The former hooker understands that referees have a very difficult job and duly wrote in his Telegraph column that “national coaches, if given the slightest leeway, will seek to add to that pressure.”
He then added: “Where that leads was demonstrated by the latest example of official-blaming, this time from France head coach Fabien Galthié.
“I have no reason to favour Ireland or France and Fabien is a playing contemporary of mine. He was a great player, is a very good coach and I like him personally. That said, I do not like his pre- and post-match comments and pressuring of Saturday’s referee, Angus Gardner.”
Moore believes that this culture of blaming the match officials ultimately does not help the sport develop and improve.
“I understand his anger at losing Dupont but, taking into account Galthié’s comments about the officiating and his opinion that the injury was caused by an action he labelled ‘reprehensible’, he did, in fact, try to influence the refereeing, even though he specifically claimed he was not doing so,” he wrote.
“Simon Easterby, the Ireland stand-in head coach dismissed the event as a ‘rugby incident’ and neither view was impartial. I tend towards Easterby’s interpretation – and so did the officials evidently, with no citings after the match – but the wider point is that comments around officiating are simply not in the best interests of rugby.”
The ex-England forward stressed that Galthie is not the only high profile coach to take aim at match officials, citing both Steve Borthwick and Rassie Erasmus as examples.
‘Donald Trump-like’ approach from Rassie Erasmus
“I would point out that Galthié is not the first coach to act in this way. We have already seen Rassie Erasmus adopt a Donald Trump-like approach of ‘just asking questions’ over social media about refereeing decisions he disagreed with during Springbok games,” he wrote.
“England’s Steve Borthwick did similarly before the round-one fixture against Ireland when he pressed New Zealander Ben O’Keeffe to officiate sharply at the breakdown.
“If those comments were genuinely meant they would be so generic and banal that no coach would waste their time with them.
“In the real world, you realise they are specifying areas of the game around which they want officials to look at the actions of their opponents and to favour their team. They know it, we know it and the officials know it.”
Moore has therefore urged World Rugby to take a look at their procedure to help protect match officials when controversial situations arise.
They can punish coaches for comments made, as they did twice for Erasmus, but the ex-England forward does not believe that there are currently any “clear rules” from the global governing body.
“Without clear rules and protection from World Rugby, controversy around refereeing will be artificially inflamed and end up damaging the game and making officials’ jobs even harder,” he added.
“And, lest we forget, rugby is struggling to attract referees, without whom nobody gets to play at all.
“World Rugby should look at the protocols around pre- and post-match comments by coaches. We all know where this will end if unchecked and we must not go there.”
