World Rugby has come under fire from one of its leading referees for introducing the official 'bunker' for televised matches at such short notice ahead of this year's World Cup.
French referee Mathieu Raynal also believes that officials should be able to explain their decisions to the media after a match.
World Rugby, with support from the official match organisation, introduced its new 'bunker' system during this match - where referees refer incidents of foul play qualifying for a yellow card to a secondary TMO for further analysis and evaluation as the match continues. summer rugby championships and warm-ups ahead of the sport's showpiece event in the autumn. The World Cup itself was subsequently plagued by controversial refereeing decisions. A handful of officials, such as Englishman Wayne Barnes, received death threats.
Raynal, who officiated England's victories against both Argentina and Fiji at the World Cup in France, lamented the lack of transparency created by the bunker.
"I think it was probably a mistake to put the bunker in at the last minute, just before the World Cup, without practicing it and using it more," said the 42-year-old after being named France's best referee at the French Rugby Awards. this week. "That was a mistake. It was also difficult because if you send a situation to the bunker, they come back to you with a decision, and you can't explain to the world why you made that decision.
"We were able to put words on the images and take people by the hand and they followed us until the final decision. That was interesting in terms of communication and explanation. Now with the bunker we have broken the relationship with the people in front of their TV or the people in the stands, which was difficult.
"I said that before the World Cup, when we discussed how to communicate to the press if a game-changing mistake had been made. My opinion on that is that we should keep it very simple: I sit on a chair and explain: 'Okay guys, I made a mistake. The game went so fast that I made an error in judgment. I don't regret it because it's my job to referee and mistakes can happen, but I'm sad about it, but it is what it is. What do you want me to do? I will not jump from the top of a building because I made a mistake on the field." It's the referee's life.
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"I hope we keep the relationship between the coaches, referees, players and fans as simple as possible. It's easier if you tell fans, 'Yes, I made a mistake.' What can we do next?"
A World Rugby spokesperson told Telegraph Sport: "The bunker emerged from the outcomes of the 2022 'shape of the game' meeting, where coaches, match officials and administrators were united in exploring ways to improve the accuracy of improve foul play decisions while reducing stoppage time. .
"Change can be difficult to adapt to and we commend the official competition team for embracing the concept in a professional manner."
'We have to be careful about where we go as a sport'
The bunker - and the TMO in general - has developed into one of rugby's biggest talking points, with former Australian head coach Eddie Jones recently claiming that "the use of the TMO is fraught with dangers". However, Raynal would not be so quick to dismiss the official's presence in the truck.
"It would be interesting to see a game without TMO," said the Frenchman. "After one mistake people accepted it, after two mistakes they started complaining and after three mistakes they asked for the TMO back. We can't fight mistakes or avoid referee mistakes. We just have to accept it, and we will lose less energy fighting for zero mistakes in a game.
"You can set up a drone, something in the ball, experts everywhere, twenty bunkers, but that does not alter the fact that at times you have to accept mistakes from referees. The game is very fast, we make decisions in a split second.
"In rugby we forgive player mistakes, we forgive coaching mistakes, but we never forgive referee mistakes. We accept that, but people must understand that our sport is more important than victory or defeat.
"Rugby needs to think about that, what exactly they want in the future and what kind of sport we are going to give our children. We still have a sport that is full of values, but it is starting to change a bit. We have to be careful about where we go as a sport in the coming years."
The change regarding the values of the sport refers to the increasing trend of social media abuse. Telegraph Sport revealed last week how World Rugby had become the first sporting governing body to take action against fans responsible for extreme online abuse of referees by passing on files of evidence to law enforcement and government agencies - identifying 200 incidents in seven different countries.
"It is clear that we cannot accept this [social media abuse]", Raynal said. "We don't accept it on the street, so why do we accept it on social media? I completely agree with Wayne [Barnes] on that. We must be stronger. I think the laws and the government need to be stronger in this regard. That is very important for referees - and also for the sport.
"Part of you enjoys the World Cup because it is a World Cup. It was in my country. It's a big event in the world. But another part of you doesn't like it because as a group we don't like to be in the middle of controversies. I don't like seeing friends in the social media storm. We try to do our best. We don't say we are perfect. We cannot fight the power of footage, the power of slow motion and the power of social media. Even if we try our best, we can't fight it."
However, despite the mounting vitriol, Raynal has no plans to follow Barnes and hang up his boots after winning his second successive best referee award at this week's Nuit du Rugby.
"It is a huge honor to be chosen as referee of the year by the players, the coaches and the other referees," he said. "It means a lot to me, but even more to my son. He is so happy with it."
Cockerill in the running for the role of Georgia
By Charles Richardson
Richard Cockerill has emerged as a leading candidate for Georgia's vacant head coach role, just days after being fired by Montpellier.
Telegraph Sport understands that the Georgian Rugby Union board will meet on Friday to discuss the vacancy, with Cockerill's name standing out on the shortlist. Should he win the race, the 52-year-old would follow in the footsteps of his former Leicester team-mate Graham Rowntree, who was part of the Georgian coaching ticket for the 2019 World Cup.
After leaving his role as England scrum coach at the height of the last Six Nations, Cockerill signed as assistant to Philippe Saint-André at Montpellier. Both Cockerill and the French legend left the French giants, owned by Mohed Altrad, this week after a derby loss to Perpignan left them bottom of the Top 14, with one win in seven.
Controversially, Bernard Laporte has been appointed by Altrad as a replacement for the duo. He arrives in Montpellier as director of rugby alongside a new coaching team.
The former France head coach and ex-World Rugby vice-president resigned as president of the Fédération Française de Rugby in January after being found guilty of an illegal conflict of interest, insider influence and four counts of passive corruption, each "guided by a preference for" Altrad, who is a good friend. Laporte is appealing the ruling.
Rene Bouscatel, chairman of France's top competition the Top 14, said: "It is a question that only concerns the people at the club and Bernard. It's their business. I respect him sportingly, but it's their business. According to French law, you are innocent until proven guilty. We can think whatever we want, but that is what it is.
"It is a choice made by Montpellier. It is very good that someone with Bernard's skills and experience is coming to the club. It's a club problem. Everyone makes their choices."
