Did Joubert feel the pressure?

[darkhorse]

First of all congratulations New Zealand. Amazing team that was consistent throughout the tournament. I can't begrudge them winning.

From a neutral's point of view, it was a good game and that had a lot to do with the referee not blowing his whistle. However, I couldn't help feel that Joubert seemed to be scared of awarding any penalties. Whilst it is hard to pinpoint any clear cut mistakes, I wonder whether under different circumstances the French dominance in the scrum would have be rewarded and the ABs murky work at the breakdown pinged.

It was a rather good performance from Joubert. Yet their must have been huge pressure not to be the cause of the ABs choking again. I didn't envy him at all.

Thoughts? I hope this thread doesn't detract from the ABs win.

 

[Scotty]

Joubert reffed the abs like he always refs the abs.

 

[pete88]

He stopped blowing scrum penalties towards the end I thought. Missed what I thought were two fairly clear penalties to France at scrum time and one to NZ.

Also, I notice he didn't ref standing straight down the lineout so it's not him as much as his touchies, but dear god how many crocked throws were allowed?

In the first half I thought the ABs got away with slowing down a lot of French ball, in the second I thought the French responded by going off their feet as a tactic to seal it off and he didn't ping them once. Yeah, the Kiwis probably got the rub of the green overall but not by much, but jeez like you say darkhorse I really hope this doesn't end up bein ga "Joubert gave the ABs the RWC" thread... France had their chances, NZ had more and took just enough of them.

 

[minorbird]

It definitely played a part in his performance. Results from psychological research suggests that the home crowd can influence the ref by causing them to swallow their whistle to avoid negative appraisal for penalizing the home team. This has the appearance of making it seem the ref is biased towards the home team.
Which is exactly what we saw from Joubert tonight. He pinged the French (appropriately I thought) but seemed hesitant and dumb-struck in a Bryce Lawrence-esque manenr whenever the All Blacks were committing anything untoward at the ruck.

 

[Swat]

http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hack/stories/s3160492.htm

 

[chief]

I will say it again. But something needs to be done about politics keeping Wayne Barnes from refereeing the RWC Playoffs. Before the RWC Wayne Barnes was without doubt the best referee in the world. He would have been perfect to referee this game, however the NZ media would have a fit had Barnes been refereeing this game. Barnes is the most consistent referee in world rugby. You know what your getting with him. With Joubert he went missing.

 

[barbarian]

Joubert was fine. Didn't get in the way and allowed the game to flow well. A good performance under intense pressure.

 

[chief]

Joubert was fine. Didn't get in the way and allowed the game to flow well. A good performance under intense pressure.

Your kidding mate.

Joubert was one sided. Scrums, rucks, mauls. He didn't call it.

 

[minorbird]

Joubert was fine. Didn't get in the way and allowed the game to flow well.

Hasn't B-Lawrence come under criticism for doing the exact same thing? I'd rather the referees be accurate than ignoring blatant infringements that either give one side an advantage due to their superior adaptiveness to the free-for-all, or result in a total clusterfuck at the breakdown.

 

[Sully]

I have got to agree with Barbarian Jouberts refereeing was fine and neither team was disadvantaged.

 

[pete88]

Seriously who'd be a ref. They're under perhaps more pressure than the players and the crowd is only ever going to boo you. You get paid fuck all even though the game couldn't happen without you and you never have mitigating circumstances for mistakes that you make, unlike players, and loads of losing fans in particular will happily blame you before their team, so half the people watching are going to hate you after a close one. The whinging about refs at this World Cup has been first class.

Rant over

 

[Jay]

I will say it again. But something needs to be done about politics keeping Wayne Barnes from refereeing the RWC Playoffs. Before the RWC Wayne Barnes was without doubt the best referee in the world. He would have been perfect to referee this game, however the NZ media would have a fit had Barnes been refereeing this game. Barnes is the most consistent referee in world rugby. You know what your getting with him. With Joubert he went missing.

Barnes was poor in the pool rounds, however.

 

[barbarian]

Your kidding mate.

Joubert was one sided. Scrums, rucks, mauls. He didn't call it.

I would suggest that the penalty count proves both of your accusations (that he was one-sided, and that he didn't call anything) incorrect.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Chief,
We are going to disagree about Joubert and Barnes.

Barnes was rather ordinary throughout the tournament and made some very public and prominent errors, including in his moment in the sun on Friday night.

Joubert had an adequate game tonight. Sure he got some calls wrong but who doesn't and his errors were not as "big" as Barnseys.

 

[Scotty]

I would suggest that the penalty count proves both of your accusations (that he was one-sided, and that he didn't call anything) incorrect.

Want the penalty count something like 9 against France and 4 against abs?

 

[barbarian]

Want the penalty count something like 9 against France and 4 against abs?

NZ received 10 penalties, France 7.

 

[Athilnaur]

Joubert does ref in a way that assists the all blacks, in so much as as I understand it they haven't lost under him in years, but it doesn't automatically follow that he's biased. I am no referee but as I understand it his calls are not only consistent, but very close to the spirit of the game, eg advantage to attacking side at breakdown.

Well, that's my read, that the guy is an extremely talented and consistent ref, what more could you ask for in a game where so much is asked of the refs?

 

[Bardon]

I thought the refereeing at the WC in general this time round was pretty poor. Can't think of a top line ref that didn't make mistakes. Barnes was pretty bad on Friday and made other big errors earlier in the WC. I think if Joubert had made the same mistakes in the final there would have been calls for his head. Agree his refing of the scrum in the 2nd half was a bit of a joke though.

Whoever was going to ref the final was going to be under pressure. I'm sure a ref doing his 1st and probably only WC final is going to suffer at least as much nerves as the players.

 

[Bowside]

Joubert missed some stuff, and I dare say with the way the ab's were being penalised they were only 1 or 2 ruck infringements away from a yellow card. But I dont think their is any great planned conspiracy, I do however think Paddy O'Brian has manipulated the interpretations and ref selections in favour of the way the all blacks play. I dont mean he's gone out and said look you have to favour the all blacks to each ref, but rather he has said watch for this this and this, more so than other things, and that very indirectly has favoured the all blacks. You have to remember though, seldom do referees win team's the game. The team has to train and prepare for years to get where they are and they win it for themselves with their performance on the field. To suggest otherwise would take away from the hard work done by the players and coaches.

In future I'd like to see some rule changes and maybe a trial of a 2 ref system for consistency. Imagine barnes and lawrence reffing the same game, what a spectacle that would be.

 

[cyclopath]

Well, the ABs have won 82% of games in the Henry years, so it is likely that their record under most, if not all refs is pretty much in their favour. They work hard to dominate the breakdown especially, and many refs, not just Joubert, tend to go more with the more aggressive team at that facet.