Tappe Henning: World Rugby to revise TMO role
INTERVIEW: Tappe Henning, the Head of Match Officials for the United Rugby Championship, has revealed that the role of the Television Match Official is being reviewed.
Henning said there are 'lots of discussions' around the role of the TMO and the process.
"World Rugby has taken the TMO protocol onboard and it is being revised," Henning revealed during a media round table – in which he addressed a broad range of subjects around refereeing and match officials in general.
He added that it is a project driven by an individual at World Rugby.
"He will develop the TMO process and protocol," the URC refereeing boss said, adding: "[He will decide] what can be referred, how it should be referred, how does the communication work and who leads it."
Henning said he is "excited" to see the outcome of that World Rugby process.
"We will look to start to implement [in the URC] next season.
"That will make it [the process] much better."
Henning said the referee should be the leader of the team of match officials in the game and he should 'take the lead' in making the decisions.
The only time the referee should not be in charge is if the referee does not have a good view on a big screen or there is no big screen at the ground.
"Then he can depend on the TMO to lead [the process]," Henning said.
The URC refereeing boss revealed that there was a 'bit of difference' between the protocol used by South African TMOs in domestic competitions.
"We have addressed those differences with two workshops over the last four weeks," Henning said.
"We addressed the matter [with the South African TMOs] to make them understand that the referee is still the leader of the group and he needs to lead the decision making."
He used retired, acclaimed Welsh match official Nigel Owens as an example of a referee leading the process.
"He said to the TMO: 'I want you to put that on the screen for me'.
"He did not ask the TMO to lead. He asked the TMO to put a clip on. Then he tells the TMO what he sees and asks the TMO if he agrees.
"That is the basic framework of TMO referrals.
"The referee still needs to own it."
Henning is adamant the first 'port of call' is the on-field match officials - the referee and the two assistant referees.
He added if they can't make the call live, they should ask for the clip to be put up to get more information to ensure he makes an accurate decision.
"Only if the referee is totally off the mark, the TMO will make him aware of information in the picture to focus on for an accurate decision," Henning said.
"The whole process must be led by the referee on the field, as the leader of the team of four."
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