World Cup chiefs "have moved to clarify the role of television match officials following the controversial use of replays during the tournament's opening weekend," according to Andy Newport of the PA. England's first match with Fiji last Friday "lasted more than 100 minutes as referee Jaco Peyper referred six incidents to the TMO for closer inspection." The "over-zealous use of the TV officials continued across the opening round of fixtures, with games involving Tonga and Georgia, Ireland and Canada as well as France's match-up with Italy all interrupted for lengthy periods as big calls were referred upstairs." That "prompted a wave of criticism, with Ireland coach Joe Schmidt fearing it could spark a wave of injuries as players are left to cool down while they wait on a ruling." His Georgia counterpart Milton Haig "warned a new generation of fans could be turned off the sport if the action was not speeded up." But now World Cup bosses "have released a statement explaining just what the TMO can and cannot interfere with." The TMOs "can only be used only for four areas -- determining the grounding for a try and whether the players involved were in touch before the try was scored, to check whether a kick at goal was successful, to confirm if an infringement in the build-up to a try or scoring opportunity took place and to consider an act of possible foul play" (PA, 9/22).
