Giteau $5000 the poorer for telling it like it is

BY GREG GROWDEN

OPINION: Sanzar got it right in deciding that Steve Walsh shouldn't referee Saturday night's Brumbies-Reds match but were wrong in forcing Matt Giteau to front its judiciary committee last night on a code of conduct charge.

Giteau was fined $5000 for making comments to a journalist about Walsh's dreadful refereeing last weekend - comments many thought were perfectly justified, considering the despair the Brumbies felt after several of his decisions spoiled their chances of winning in Sydney.

Giteau was asked legitimate questions by a reporter on Monday, and he gave honest answers.

The conversation went:

Reporter: How are you guys going to be if Steve Walsh is refereeing on Saturday night?

Giteau: Mate, I don't know if we'll turn up. What's the point?

Reporter: So you're hoping he gets relegated then?

Giteau: Yeah, I think so. I think everyone is.

Earlier he was asked what he thought of Adam Ashley-Cooper's try being disallowed. ''Like anyone that knows rugby, it was a try,'' Giteau replied.

If Sanzar prefers censorship, fine. But if that is the case, it then has no alternative but to closely scrutinise comments yesterday by its referees' boss, Lyndon Bray, and hit him with a code of conduct charge as well.

Bray went on New Zealand radio to justify why Walsh was pulled from the Brumbies-Reds match and replaced by Chris Pollock, and the subject soon turned to Giteau's comments. At the time of this radio interview, it was widely known that Giteau was expected to face a Sanzar judiciary hearing.

Bray said he thought Giteau ''definitely needs to face a disciplinary hearing on the comments''. He added that Giteau had to be held ''accountable'', and that it would be ''nice'' if Giteau was suspended at least for the Reds match.

Nice!!! These are not ''nice'' or particularly smart comments before a SANZAR judicial hearing. They come across as a high-ranking official putting pressure on others within the organisation to make sure Giteau is penalised. For that, Bray must be pulled into line, especially as he also said that, in his opinion, the ''hammer'' had to be brought down on Giteau taking an emotional approach when criticising Walsh.

As perplexing was the reasoning behind Walsh no longer being the referee at Canberra Stadium. According to Bray, Walsh's demotion had more to do with concerns the game would turn into a circus if he was the referee, rather than a penalty for the numerous diabolical decisions he made last weekend, or the running battle he had all night with Brumbies captain Stephen Hoiles.

''We have to look at the best interests of the game this weekend, as well as what's in the best interests of Steve as a referee,'' Bray said.

''It is very unfortunate the Brumbies have come out very publicly with those particular comments. They have made it very untenable for Steve to be able to work in that environment.''

So it was all the Brumbies fault. Who's kidding who?

Bray then defended Walsh for disallowing Ashley-Cooper's try for a ''double moment''.

If Bray seriously thinks Ashley-Cooper's try wasn't a try, it just proves why so many referees have got it wrong in the past, because such try attempts, which aren't exactly uncommon, have regularly resulted in five points being awarded.

At least all this brouhaha has momentarily succeeded in diverting everyone's attention to the real problem at the Brumbies - internal division from there being too many chiefs and not enough indians. Who knows - the Walsh debacle may see them band together again.

- © Fairfax NZ News