The new VR process is a joke, if the referee isn't sure he shouldn't just be made to guess just beacause they do it in the NRL.

We have already seen some strange VR decisions and we have only had 2 TV games

The current crop of refs may have their critics but surely one thing you can't accuse them of is not taking responsibility? I mean, the odd televised game apart, what have they been doing as professional referees week in week out for many years? None of them seem that shy to me

At a non televised game it is necessary for the ref to make the call one way or the other. At a televised game it isn't necessary, so it is without a doubt illogical to force him to do so. Sure, there will be times when he has little doubt, and I'm all for communication between the on field and off field officials to state their perception and surety of a call and thus improve decision making, but there will also be times when he genuinely doesn't know and will be forced to make a call for no other reason than" that's what he'd have to do if the VR wasn't here."

Say what you like about Bentham, he deserves a lot of credit for querying the quality of Greg Bird's moustache during the Four Nations Final!

Nope. He's a ref. Making calls is what he does. There's no "forcing" involved. He's the man in charge and his call is law. All he is now doing is announcing what his call is, just like he otherwise would, but allowing a review of his decision if he thinks there is sufficient doubt that he'd like it re-assessed with the benefit of video replays.

I think cases where the ref "genuinely doesn't know" (and nor do his assistants) would be rare indeed but in those circumstances he doesn't go home, scratching his arrse, he decides "no try". I don't know why you can't get your head around that simple point.

How did sport (and we aren't the only ones especially when you think of the DRS system in cricket) ever survive make it to the 21st century before technology came along to aid officials?

Especially baffling when the same officals manage to cope ok when Sky cameras aren't there.

I'd hazard a guess that TV coverage might have played a part

I thinks perhaps that you need to "get your head around" the fact that not everybody has the same opinion.



The new system is [iunnecessarily[/i restrictive. At a non-televised game (which you seem to think should provide the basis for how the referee conducts himself) he has no choice but to make a call regardless of how much doubt he has because he simply does not have the benefit of the VR. At a televised game he does, making it fatuous to use "what would he do if the VR wasn't there" as a basis for his available actions.