TMO and what he does

Interesting statistic

The Six Nations gets into action this week and the Super 12 starts next month. At all of these matches, the television match official is used. A quick look at what he may and may not do may just be interesting.

The TMO is being used increasingly in Europe. The French have an interesting experiment in their Top 16. They have goal judges. Their advantage is greater flexibility than the camera though the touch-line-corner post-goal line decisions are still more likely to be easier for the TMO.

In a recent examination of decisions by the television match officials, all done without match pressure, it was decided that 26 out of 50 decisions in the Super 12 were either wrong or highly debatable.

There are two ways of looking at this. One way is to say: You see it's not worth it.
The other way is to say: See, the TMO helped the referee 24 times.

The TMO gets called in only when a decision is difficult, and that means it is going to be difficult for him.

The whole world sees what he sees at the same speed as he sees it. The world waits on his decision and there is pressure to move on. Camera angles are not always adequate and sometimes players or touch judges get in the confounded way.

It is not an easy job.

The IRB has a protocol which tells the referee what the TMO's jurisdiction is. There are things he is allowed to ask and things the TMO is allowed to answer.

The referee is allowed to consult the TMO on three aspects of scoring - the grounding of the ball in in-goal, the penalty and the dropped goal.

The referee is not allowed to consult the TMO on acts before the grounding of the ball except for those that concern touch, the corner post and touch-in-goal.

That means consulting the TMO on matters such as crawling and the vague "couple movement" thing are not part of the TMO's peered of activity. Apart from the touch-line he is not to be concerned with how the player got to the goal-line - not crawling, sliding, knocking on, passing forward - none of those things. Those decisions are solely the province of the referee.

There is even a set form of how the conversation is allowed to take place.

The referee puts the question.

If the question is within the TMO's competence, he repeats the question. If it is not within his competence he is to tell the referee that he is not allowed to advise in the matter.

When he has his advice ready, the TMO tells the referee. The referee then repeats the advice.

The referee is allowed to ask: Give me a reason why I should not award a try. But the reason must concern the grounding in in-goal, not any activity of the player before he gigot to in-goal - other than the touch-line.

The TMO is allowed to give advice on the possibility of a penalty try because of foul play in in-goal. He is not allowed to give advice about foul play in the field of play.

The SANZAR countries were allowed to ask the TMO's advice in the identification on players guilty of foul play. That is no longer the case.