New Zealand All Blacks rugby team coach Steve Hansen has
called for rugby union to "rip up the rule book" and "simplify its laws
after a string of officiating blunders in the Rugby Championship," according to the AFP. Hansen was "careful not to criticise referees themselves, but said
the complexity of the rules they had to enforce made their job
difficult." Hansen: "If I was allowed to do one thing in the game I'd rip
the rule book up and I'd write another one and just put in the rules
that are necessary. We've got so many. If you read the rule book there's clause 5 (a) 2 (c). You read it and it doesn't even sound like English." Hansen said the referees' task was "made harder because rules could be
interpreted differently between their home nation, the northern/southern
hemispheres" and the Int'l Rugby Board. Hansen suggested the IRB "take responsibility for hiring a panel of
top referees and touch judges, who could then officiate at all Test
matches." He said, "I'd like them to employ the top 10 refs and get them to
do all the games, that way they'd become better and more consistent" (AFP, 9/11).
