Richard Cockerill, the Leicester director of rugby, has called for the powers of the Television Match Official to be reined back, claiming that the use of technology is undermining the men in the middle.
The TMO became an unfortunate feature of the World Cup group stages with lengthy referrals over marginal foul play decisions dragging halves out to 50 minutes. Even though its use was moderated in the knockout stages as well as the opening rounds of the Six Nations, the TMO still has the capacity to infuriate. At Premiership level, Leicester had two tries disallowed against Newcastle on Friday and yet Cockerill, traditionally not the officials’ closest ally, said that he was not speaking out of self-interest but in support of referees.
“I probably would not have said this two years ago but I think the technology is making the game worse,” Cockerill said. “You just have to go with the flow. Try yes or no, I understand. Foul play, I understand. But it is a bit of a debacle when you have got guys lining up conversions and it comes back.
Leicester had two tries disallowed last week
“My experience of the TMO is that they are coercing the referee into making a decision that they think is right rather than the referee looking at it and saying for me I don’t see that, let’s crack on.
“The good ones, Wayne Barnes, J P Doyle and Nigel Owens, make their own minds up and it’s just common sense. I don’t want a bloke in a wagon outside making those decisions.
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“We saw against Newcastle when we scored two tries that were disallowed for knock-ons. The head of English referees and the head of world referees say they are both tries. The bloke in a caravan said they weren’t.”
Tuilagi will return after three weeks out Photo: PA
Meanwhile, Cockerill confirmed that centres Jean de Villiers and Manu Tuilagi would feature against Harlequins on Friday night. De Villiers, the former South Africa captain, has yet to play for the club while Tuilagi has been out for three weeks with a hamstring injury having spent nearly 15 months on the sidelines with a groin problem.
Cockerill, though, warned England supporters not to get their hopes up regarding Tuilagi’s participation in the Six Nations. “Manu will play some part on Friday night and if Eddie decides to pick him because he is playing well enough then so be it, but at this point he has not played enough rugby at club level, never mind at Test level.”
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