IRB apology vindicates All Blacks' criticism

BY MARC HINTON IN LONDON

Last updated 14:01 19/11/2009

LAWRENCE SMITH/Stuff.co.nz

NO HEAT: IRB referees boss Paddy O'Brien has assured All Blacks coach Graham Henry that there will be no extra onus on the New Zealanders heading into the World Cup.

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The All Blacks didn't want to use the word, but here goes... They were vindicated by IRB referee's boss Paddy O'Brien's frank admission that they effectively got sawn off by the match official in Milan last week.

Aussie ref Stu Dickinson blew a symphony on his whistle during last Sunday morning's (NZ time) 20-6 win over the Italians at the San Siro, heavily penalising the All Blacks at the scrum contest. The New Zealanders set something like nine scrums in the match on their ball, and required next to no restarts.

The Italians, by contrast, required a monumental 29 scrums, many of them having to be set over and again. Yet it was the All Blacks who were heavily fingered by Dickinson, with young loosehead Wyatt Crockett especially blown off the park.

To their credit the New Zealanders had been adamant from the moment the game ended they were the wronged party. Italy coach Nick Mallet heavily disagreed.

But yesterday (NZ time) in London, O'Brien visited the All Blacks essentially to offer an olive branch and to publicly admit that Dickinson got it badly wrong in his rulings on the scrum in Milan. He had extensive DVD evidence to back it up too.

Asked about the scrum "clarification" by O'Brien, which the All Blacks were understandably rapt to receive, Henry toed a fairly diplomatic line.

"It's just good to have some reality, some truthfulness… I think the scrum has been a problem for some time and if you get two teams who want to scrum and scrum legally you'll get a good game of football," he said.

"But if you get one team that's not doing that it makes it a mess. As a spectacle it's poor to look at from that point of view."

Henry called O'Brien's refreshing honesty call a "reality check" for all involved.

"It's a reality check for the guys with the whistle, and I'm sure the guys (All Blacks) are pleased it's happened. It's frustrating, because you put a lot of time into scrum training, it's hard work and you want to do it right. And when it doesn't happen at the weekend it's a frustration."

But Henry balked just a little at admitting he was vindicated. The headmaster was trying to be a little more gracious than that.

"I'm just pleased it's been brought to the surface and hasn't been swept under the carpet. I think everyone realises the scrum has been a problem in some test matches for some time. Hopefully that will rectify it to some extent," he said.

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But Henry urged continued vigilance lest referees fall back into old habits.

The All Blacks are particularly happy that Crockett has been essentially cleared. They were worried that the young Cantab could have his confidence shattered by being essentially illegally manoeuvred at scrum time.

There were also moments, they believe, when the Italian tighthead prop's tactics were bordering on dangerous.

Whatever, certainly the set piece has had a pretty public airing over the last few days and hopefully, starting at Twickenham on Saturday, we can see the restart continue as a fair contest which enables quality ball to be taken by sides who scrum well.

Sound too good to be true? Well, we'll see.

- © Fairfax NZ News