Kaplan: Some refs not so Super
The three Six Nations referees outshone those officiating in Super Rugby. That is the verdict of record-breaking former Test referee Jonathan Kaplan.
Kaplan, writing on his website RatetheRef, said that in contrast to the Super Rugby weekend, the Six Nations matches were well refereed.
He was full of praise for Irish ref John Lacey, who was in charge of the encounter England and Italy at Twickenham, as well as New Zealander Glen Jackson - who took charge of the encounter between Scotland and Wales at Murrayfield.
"I like his no-nonsense manner and he is picking up experience quickly."
Of Jackson, who took charge of his first Six Nations Test, Kaplan said he did "exceptionally well" in a game where there were some tough calls to make.
"Taking players out in the air seems to be flavour of the year at the moment, and he did the sensible thing by giving cards to both perpetrators - even though the incidents were quite different.
"I thought his scrum sanctions were of the best I have seen, and his breakdown work wasn't far behind either.
"He had a couple of tough decisions to make towards the end of the fixture, including ruling on a dropped ball versus a knock on, which was a bit unlucky for the Scots, and the clock which wound down after the successful conversion of the last try as the Welsh were taking their time getting back to the halfway line. All in all a nice effort."
A for England's Wayne Barnes, who took control of the crucial encounter between Ireland and France in Dublin, Kaplan he had a tough test match where all his experience and nous was needed.
"He was far from perfect, but did a really good job keeping the fixture going, and crucially allowing the players to decide the outcome in a game which could have gone either way.
"I agreed with the yellow card for the knee in the back by the French lock [Pascal Pape], although no one could have argued had he chosen red."
He also pointed out that both Lacey and Jackson are former players, who have played the game at the highest level, which might have something to do with the way they have shot up the refereeing rankings.
"Walsh wasn't the best, failing to refer a try which was so close to the corner that he could not have seen in real time if it was good," Kaplan said, adding: "[He also] had a very poor scrum completion rate, with umpteen resets, had a basic law error in respect of kick-off into in-goal (not good enough at this level) and seemed more interested in the peripheral issues that the game offered, rather than the nuts and bolts. Not ideal."
Another who was on the receiving end was Australian Rohan Hoffmann, who took charge of the encounter between the Lions and the Hurricanes in Johannesburg.
"The Lions were miserable against the Canes, who deserved their win," he said, before turning on the match official: "A few calls went against the Lions which didn't help, but in truth their execution and accuracy wasn't the best. They let themselves down.
"Hoffman missed many a Canes player taking an opponent out beyond the ball, which has been a growing trend in recent years and something needs to be done about it.
"Also [he] messed up a couple of maul defence rulings, which didn't help at critical junctures. However, like I said, the Lions only have themselves to blame."
New Zealander Chris Pollock, who took the whistle for the encounter between the Blues and Chiefs in Albany, was "one of the better referees" at the weekend.
"[He] made decisions when he had to, but was rarely noticed."
Source: RatetheRef