Judah Match Report From Scotland w/ Assessor Comments

[jboulet4648]

Kelso Second XV 17 Hawick Linden 18

Friday evening match under the floodlights at Kelso Rugby Club. Arrived and changed in the referee changing room. Pitch was full size and properly lined. As kickoff time approached the stands began to fill in.

The fifteen minutes was marred by sloppy play, and attempts by the home side testing the American in play and in lip. PLay cleaned up after a yellow card, and a nice open game of rugby came about, with quick ball, and good skill level. Near the end of the first, play began to digress again, however, another yellow card reminded the players of the standard I was enforcing. Second half resulted in no problems, but a fast, up tempo game, with impressive skill level and ball movement. Down 8 points with about ten to go, the home side upped the temp of the match and closed the margin to a single point but their desperate attack was staved off by the visiting side.

Match was followed by a shower, and dinner with teams and club officials in the clubhouse

 

[jboulet4648]

Aberty Dundee 25 Edinburgh UNiversity 2nd XV 10

A University Match in Dundee Scotland. It was preceded by a trip around St. Andrew's which was a very pleasant experience.

The match itself was between two University sides playing in the Scotland University Cup. Neither side seemed to have a coach. The first hour of play was very wide open and fast paced. Players from both sides showed tremendous skill. The one thing which lacked from both sides was it appeared to be seat of the pants rugby, with no actual game plan. Two yellow cards, both for repeat infringements at the tackle and ruck, and one to each side, ensured quick play. However, fitness lacked, and led to a rather sloppy final twenty minutes. Aberty-Dundee was the better side throughout the match and had a much stronger attack throughout, and deserved the victory.

 

[jboulet4648]

Hawick Harlequins 12 Gala YM 7

If you were to take the meanest Red Sox fans and Yankee fans and put the on a muddy rugby pitch with a ball, that is the sentiment anytime a Hawick team plays a Gala team. To add to the bitterness of both sides to each other, Gala came in with a stacked line-up after one of their sides backed out of a match. On top of that the ground conditions were heavy with slippery surface even though the weather was mainly dry with a slight wind. The game was one which players discipline repeatedly broke down. There were spells of attractive play however, these bright spots were followed repeatedly by many simple unforced errors, which led to very little open play. Ground conditions did not help matters and frustrations mounted. Since the style of rugby was not a challenge, the players decided to test my management skills. A yellow card to Gala in the first twenty for repeat cynical play within their 22 M line convinced Gala to keep their feet, and their hands off the ball. Hawick which seemed to be the stronger side finally managed to put two scores in, in the first half. Second half opened with more bitterness to each other than the first, and within 13 minutes, The near side TJ signaled a bit of foul play on one of the Hawick flankers, who rested for ten minutes, and thought about his actions. During this time, Gala was able to mount an attack and made a converted try. The yellow card did not convince all of the Hawick players unfortunately. Two minutes after the yellow ended, the other flanker waited until the fly half kicked the ball away before launching himself off his feet with a severe late and high tackle, which forced my hand, and left me with no other option but Red. The heated play continued until the final whistle, with Hawick coming away with a narrow victory.

 

[Gareth-Lee Smith]

Looks from the reports that you had a challenging, yet successful excursion - very well done

 

[SimonSmith]

I'd be interested to get more around the resets at the scrum.

In my D1 game, I have a few resets and the assessor suggested that the IRB directive is to free kick ASAP to end the reset the problem.

I made the point to the assessor that I would just "find" a FK to get myself out of trouble. Sometimes they just wheel round, or go down w/out any foul play happening. I got the feeling from the discussion that the memo didn't make it to me that we should be heading to FK-land so quickly!

 

[Bryan]

Hawick Linden v. Kelso 2nds
Glad to see Jack is still using that awesome typewriter to write reports, though I'm surprised he didn't use any scoring sheet at this level. His approach is interesting- very old school "assessor", where he relays you facts and it's up to you to interpret this and discuss it with him.

Hawick 'Quins v. Gala YM
Sounds overall like this will help you down the road. The teams you were refereeing are in Eastern Division 1/2, which is 6/7 Levels below Premier 1, so around a Level 9-12 in terms of quality of skill and certainly well-within your capacity in terms of speed of play.

However, refereeing 2 Intra-Borders matches makes for a management level of around 4-5, especially when anyone plays Hawick. Good thing this was your last match and not your first, as I'd feel pretty crappy after having to deal with these 2 teams upon arrival.

Now, as it stands, in 3 matches your card count is 5 YCs and 1 Red. Hope you had fun writing those reports...

I got the feeling from the discussion that the memo didn't make it to me that we should be heading to FK-land so quickly!

One interesting point from The Eminent POB is that we as referees are in the entertainment industry, and that fans don't want to see reset after reset, but would rather the quick free-kick and dynamic play created. Take this with a pinch of salt when the 'fans' at your game are a man and his dog, but I think there's a good point in there.

 

[SimonSmith]

Agree with that - my problem is where there isn't an immediatelyt identifiable FK to be seen...

 

[ex-lucy]

how many resets = FK?
2?
3?
FK against captain asks: "Sir, what for ?"
What is your reply?

I dont like this ... i can u/stand to a certain extent but ... i dont like it.
We are not allowed to guess and make things up elsewhere on the park ...

 

[jboulet4648]

The problem was that at all levels below Premier 1, 2 and 3, it is under 19 scrum laws which gives you no time to sort out the scrum. Most of those resets were
for wheeled scrums.

 

[ex-lucy]

Judah:
Hoyk v Gala ... I would like to beg your indulgence and follow up on these statements. For me, I think this is the crux of the art of refereeing in certain matches ... and congrats on performing well in trying situations.
"It is to your credit that you maintained a cool and level head throughout and were able to show considerable empathy and patience when required. You also managed to achieve a good balance of assertive and punitive measures when necessary; the latter without any signs arrogance or annoyance in situations which would have tested the best of referees.
You managed foul play and persistent infringements; the latter again, with a fine judgement and your voice and whistle were applied to good effect. You communicated and co-operated well with the other match officials in a match where all three of you were necessarily involved."

How specifically did you manage this ?
Can you pls provide some details on scenarios and explain what you did and said.

 

[ExHookah]

The problem was that at all levels below Premier 1, 2 and 3, it is under 19 scrum laws which gives you no time to sort out the scrum. Most of those resets were
for wheeled scrums.

OK, so we're dealing with only a 45 degree wheel, right? That's very difficult to maintain, so I can see why there were so many resets in that case.

Sounds like a beast of a match, so I imagine reset scrums were the least of your worries.

 

[jboulet4648]

Some examples....

Knew Hawick was frustrated with Gala's play within 22M as Hawick was attacking. Gala had two penalties, on the thrid, a collapsed maul, I wanted to card, but the TJ nor me got the number. On the ensuing penalty I carded Gala. I had the captains confidence that I had the situation under control.

Game was getting heated up by the end of first half. Two minutes into the second tensions came through, and I took a good three minutes of time to take control. I had both teams separate ten meters apart. Talked to one captain, then talked to the other, taking my time, keeping my demeanor calm, cool and collected. I told each how I was restarting and play continued.

As the half progressed chipiness ensued, so told captains the lack of disciplince was unacceptable, that from here on out, i was not stopping at yellow, and was going directly to red.

With 5 minutes left a 15 on 15 brawl started. I blew my whistle, and sat back. Unfortunately, I had to get closer than I wanted and repeatedly blow my whistle since the TJ on the side decided to try to get in and pull players out. While the players sorted it out, I sat back. When it was over, once again, calmly had all players go at least 10 m from each other, took the captains over and said we have 5 to go gents. Your teams will play rugby. I could card all 30 players, however we will be restarting with a scrum atatcking side.

Basically anytime the game got heated, I separated the teams, took some deep breaths, took my time, kept my voice calm, my body calm, and delivered a message to the captains in a calm but assertive nature. It was extremely difficult to do, something I do not think I would have handled as effectively if my ref coach had not showed me a video and we talked about a match which had similar, but not as bad, hostillity. However, his coaching came to mind and I really had to talk myself into not getting excited, and remaining calm.

 

[jboulet4648]

You communicated and co-operated well with the other match officials in a match where all three of you were necessarily involved."

One of the yellow cards was from a TJ. I did not see the infraction. TJ signaled me, I made sure teams were apart, and went to him. He said Black 6 stamped player on ground on ankle. I asked for his recommendation, he said yellow. I repeated, Black 6 stamp, yellow, correct. He said yes. I then called black captain and black 6,and spoke to the captain only. I said TJ reported Black 6 stamped on an ankle. He recommends yellow card, that is my decision. Will restart with penalty to red. Showed the yellow card to the air, not in the direction of any player, and went on with it.

 

[jboulet4648]

Malcolm Changling took us up for a day at Murrayfield.

Went to the Scotland vs Ireland fixture

 

[ExHookah]

Slight tangent, but that second photo is a great example of a ref staying on his toes and poised to move.

 

[SimonSmith]

Hah!
I was given coaching on Saturday that the top guys are always anticipating and moving BEFORE the s/half takes his option.

I'm thinking of cutting that photo and pasting it in my reply to the assessor

 

[ex-lucy]

that's excellent, Judah, thanks.
I am told i am too strict with my standards/ expectation levels for pens/ YCs/RCs but i dont think i would have done much different to what you did.
Did you brief the TJ beforehand about boots on body and your expectation levels/ standards?

 

[SimonSmith]

Remember the old Fun Boy Three standby? "It ain't what you do but the way that you do it"?

My assessor on Saturday - who, btw was good! - talked about grabbing the opportunities to build rapport and empathy points so that they could be used later. I was using my usual management style, and it was interestingt to hear it conceptualized that way

 

[ex-lucy]

grabbing the opportunities to build rapport and empathy points so that they could be used later.

eh? pls explain ...

 

[jboulet4648]

basically, you can turn a yellow card against a team into a opportunity to build rapport......it all comes down to tone, and empathy towards each team. I used to be quick to respond, however, I realize that if you take one extra breath before I spoke, I managed to sound calmer. All the visual, non verbal clues help as well, stay relaxed, don't tense up, smile when you can. Another important thing is body position when speaking to players. Have them face you, stand in front of them, you have something important to tell them and you want them looking at you. When you speak, speak slowly and decisively to the captain, regarding a decision. You need to card someone, tell the captain, blue 5 had hands in, thats his 3rd time doing so, I have no other options, it will be a yellow card. The actual yellow card is not for the players, its for the sidelines, so don't stick it in anyones direction, calmly lift it in the air.

The only briefing of TJs I did was if foul play is seen, I told them to give me number, color, incident, and recommendation. If I had seen it, I may not have carded, however, I did not, so I had to go by TJ recommendation.

Ways to build rapport
Example:
tackle by black 6, as tackle comes to ground, 6 rolls away, next dead ball, walk by 6, hey 6, thanks for rolling away, your skill helped me not to blow the whistle....