Coming soon to a game near you: 'Hawk-Eye'
INTERVIEW: The United Rugby Championship is ready to embrace technology, including the famed Hawk-Eye system, to enhance the game.
Tappe Henning, the Head of Match Officials for the URC, said they are investigating the Hawk-Eye technology to get it into the game "as soon as possible".
Hawk-Eye is a computer vision system used in numerous sports - such as cricket, tennis, Gaelic football, badminton, hurling, rugby union, association football and volleyball - to visually track the trajectory of the ball and players, then display a profile of its statistically most likely path as a moving image.
The system works via six (sometimes seven) high-performance cameras, normally positioned on the underside of the stadium roof, which track the ball from different angles. The video from the six cameras is then triangulated and combined to create a three-dimensional representation of the ball's trajectory.
"We are constantly reviewing technology and how we can apply that [to the game]," Henning told a media round table - in which he addressed a broad range of subjects around refereeing and match officials in general.
Henning revealed that earlier this week there was a meeting between European Professional Club Rugby, Premiership Rugby (England) and the United Rugby Championship to discuss the use of Hawk-Eye.
"We are joining forces and entering into a test phase with Hawk-Eye," the URC refereeing boss said.
He said they will put the product in front of the stakeholders and boards to show them the value of using the technology.
Henning said they will look into all the options available.
"We must decide what is workable within our environment," he said: adding: "How can we make it work across different hemispheres.
"We are working very hard to see what the best package will be for our specific competitions.
"We believe it will make an impact on the quality of decision making of the TMO."
He admitted it will have an impact on time and on ball-tracking for forward passes.
"Hopefully by the start of next season we will be in a position where we can put it in front of our board, to make a decision whether it can be implemented in our competition," Henning said.
The URC refereeing boss admitted that while there is some refining to be done, he has worked with the Hawk-Eye technology at the Dubai Sevens last November.
"To have a technician sit next to me, who understands and loves the game of rugby as much as we do, have a screen in front of you with all the camera angles available immediately, that technology is unbelievable to make an accurate decision.
"They can put four or six cameras showing different angles - cover the touchline, touch-in-goal line, grounding of the ball, foot in touch, knock-on. You can look at it all at the same time.
"It is an unbelievable system.
"Hawk-Eye offers so much.
"I can't even begin to explain how much technology we can apply in the game.
"We are so excited to bring it into the game.
"Accuracy of decision-making is hugely important and if we can use that to improve that, it will be great for the game.
"The experience of the spectators will be enhanced.
"The understanding of the decision-making and the process will be so much better."
Hawk-Eye is not infallible, but is advertised to be accurate to within 3.6 millimetres and is generally trusted as an impartial second opinion in sports.
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