Refereeing criticised

Press, 4 June 1984, Page 13

Refereeing criticised

NZPA staff correspondent New Plymouth Referees will have to be tougher on the French rugby team during the remaining matches of their New Zealand tour, say the coach and captain of the Taranaki side. The coach, Bill Batchelor, supported by the captain, Warren Bunn, said in New Plymouth yesterday that line-out and rucking illegalities by the tourists in Saturday’s match had not been heavily penalised and should be watched more closely. “I’d certainly like to see more penalties,” Mr Batchelor said. “We were obstructed out of the game in the lineout. “The referee said to me at one point that we could

have had a penalty at every line-out but if he gave every one we wouldn’t have a game,” said Bunn. Even with the referee’s lenient treatment, the French gave away 18 penalties and were awarded only six. Mr Batchelor said their tendency to push or obstruct opponnts in line-outs and to join rucks from offside positions deserved a harder line. Reviewing the general performance of the French side, both men said they were unimpressed. “On today’s performance I would have to say I favour the All Blacks in the test series,” Bunn said. “They began well and were quite hard early on but they tired very quickly.

“Joinel had a good game but there’s nothing in this side New Zealand can’t handle.” The French, represented by their manager, Yves Noe, captain Philippe Dintrans and coach, Jacques Fouroux, were more satisfied with their performance. “It is very good to start the tour with a win,” said Mr Noe. Dintrans said he had found no difficulty with the referee’s interpretations. “I didn’t count the penalties and I didn’t worry about them because Taranaki didn’t score any tries.” Mr Fouroux shared Dintrans’ view that the tourists had work to do. “There was some very good play but there was also very bad play,” he said.