Cultural Clash On The Rugby Field

[Mulboyne]

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Above video may not be around for long

There was an interesting moment during last night's Bledisloe Cup match in Tokyo which happens about a minute into the clip above. New Zealand just had a man sent to the sin bin which gave Australia a temporary one man advantage. They mounted an attack and winger Peter Hynes dived for the corner. Whenever the on-field officials have no clear view of a try-scoring attempt, they can call on a television match official, himself a qualified referee, to review the footage. With the match in Tokyo, this was Akihisa Aso. There are various ways a TMO can operate: some will only award a try if they can be sure it was scored while others will give the benefit of any doubt to the attacking team. One requirement is that the referee makes his decision quickly and not hold up the game. It was a difficult decision, as the commentators acknowledge, but, sadly, Mr Aso wasn't up to the task. Certainly, time was taken up because a translator was involved but you can almost sense the Japanese official sucking his teeth and saying "Muzukashii desu ne". Eventually, South African referee Mark Lawrence lost patience, decided to ignore Aso and award the try. Lawrence didn't win many plaudits for his overall performance on the day but no-one took issue with his desire to get on with the game. A small loss of face for Mr. Aso and the JRFU. Fortunately, there was some redemption a few minutes later when the TMO was given another adjudication and Lawrence allowed him time to make the call.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Looks like Williefrom the Eastern Suburbs Cocks is headed here...