Wasps 6 Newcastle Falcons 12
WASPS’ director of rugby Tony Hanks joined the attack on refereeing in the Guinness Premiership after his side were beaten 12-6 by Newcastle at Adams Park.
Saracens’ Brendan Venter had been highly critical of the standard of officiating, which he blamed for killing the game as a spectacle.
Hanks supported him as he lamented the confusion over the breakdown after watching Wasps concede a dismal encounter on penalties.
‘‘Both teams tried to play some rugby and that’s where I’m most frustrated,’’ he said.
‘‘Week-in, week-out the breakdown seems to be different.
We need to get clear interpretation in terms of who’s allowed to play the ball.
‘‘We need that to encourage teams to play rugby. I know it’s difficult for the referees but we want a game where you’re encouraged to play rugby and not scared to go through a few phases.
‘‘We have to deal with what we’ve been dealt with in terms of the law but the contest at the breakdown is not even.
‘‘My big thing is the tackler –when he’s allowed to play the ball again. Has he released?
It’s in the tackler’s favour at the moment.’’ Hanks insisted clubs must retain their ambition, despite having to operate in the perceived shackles.
‘‘As coaches we’re the ones who need to take responsibility for it and must continue in our pursuit to play positive rugby,’’ he said.
‘‘We don’t want to throw the towel in and we must work with referees. It will take a bit of time.’’ Newcastle director of rugby Steve Bates sympathised with referees and lauded the contact between clubs and officials, but claimed issues over the tackle area must be addressed.
‘‘In Premiership rugby we have a lot of communication with the refereeing department,’’ he said.
‘‘We’re constantly talking with them about how they will look at the breakdown.
‘‘Every club had an opportunity to make some recommendations after the last round of matches.
‘‘I made some, but you don’t always see your recommendations being taken up.
‘‘The referee has a very difficult job but we’re not seeing as much consistency as we’d all like.
‘‘There needs to be a move to get the tackler out of the way very quickly.’’ Fly half Jimmy Gopperth booted the Falcons to a first win at Adams Park in nine attempts.
He kicked four penalties as they climbed to sixth in the table.
‘‘We caused them a lot of problems in the scrum and that was the basis for a welldeserved victory,” he said.
‘‘They came back into the game more in the second half but we defended well.”
The game was yet another poor advert for the Premiership, which continues to enjoy a boom in attendance figures despite the poor standard of rugby.
Referee Tim Wigglesworth was hardly responsible for the lack of entertainment.
Endless kicking, much of it aimless, combined with high error and penalty counts, tested the patience of supporters.
England and Lions lock Simon Shaw rose above the mediocrity to become the dominant forward, closely followed by Newcastle skipper Carl Hayman.
Wasps used three kickers in Dave Walder, Danny Cipriani and Mark van Gisbergen.
Each of the trio landed one kick, but after an opening exchange with Gopperth, Walder missed twice against his former club, who led 6-3 at half-time.
Wasps almost scored a try when a slick move ended with Shaw driving over. But Hayman managed to get a hand beneath the ball and TMO Roy Marfleet refused to award the score.
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