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'Immense': New Zealand Rugby pay tribute to newly retired referee Wayne Barnes

Referee Wayne Barnes talks to Ardie Savea of New Zealand after the Rugby World Cup France 2023 Gold Final match between New Zealand and South Africa at Stade de France on October 28, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images)

New Zealand Rugby have paid tribute to Wayne Barnes after the referee announced his retirement this week just days after officiating the Rugby World Cup final.

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The 44-year-old oversaw his first ever World Cup final on Saturday as South Africa overcame the All Blacks 12-11 at the Stade de France, and had to brandish a yellow card on four occasions during the match, with All Blacks captain Sam Cane’s card being upgraded to a red by the bunker in the first-half.

In the wake of final, Barnes has been subjected to online abuse including death threats, which became an all too common theme during the World Cup with England’s Tom Curry and South Africa’s Cobus Reinach also experiencing the same treatment during the tournament. In his statement announcing his retirement, he said that he will strive to prevent this happening to other referees in the future.

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All Black coach Ian Foster speaks about his team’s one-point loss to the Springboks in the World Cup Final

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All Black coach Ian Foster speaks about his team’s one-point loss to the Springboks in the World Cup Final

He said: “I will work closely with the International Rugby Match Officials’ association to ensure match officials across the globe not only have a collective voice but also the appropriate support network for them and their families, particularly as online abuse and threats have become far too regular for all of those involved in the game.”

Despite losing in the final, it was all class from New Zealand on social media, as they paid tribute to the 111-Test referee, saying his contribution to the game has been “immense”.

“Congratulations to Wayne Barnes,” NZR wrote on X. “Who has called time on his refereeing career. With a record-breaking 111 Test matches in the middle, Wayne’s contribution to the world game has been immense. We wish him and his family all the best for the future.”

This post from New Zealand was followed by the hashtag #RespectTheRef, which is important given everything that has expired this past week.

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7 Comments
J
Jen 368 days ago

ABs supporters are getting called all sorts of things following the final but it’s pretty clear that there are sour and vitriolic fans within every group. You can see it online. It was reported that this abuse happened following the SA v France game, too.

K
Kara 368 days ago

Let’s hope Luke Pearce is appointed to top matches. He and Pepyer were the only refs at the world cup to allow games to flow - including Barnes, the alleged victim.

L
LjA 368 days ago

Seeing as it’s such a slight on All Blacks fans, would it be possible to see evidence of the death threats? It has been suggested there are multiple not just one. If people are pointing fingers/making claims of the likes, to be fair, there must be rock-solid proof, so let’s have it.

P
Paul 369 days ago

What's rugby becoming with all this online abuse. Rugby is supposed to be a gentleman’s game played and supported by gentleman. Before people abuse refs or players they should try and be in the spotlight for 80 minutes under pressure not to make a mistake.

y
yster 369 days ago

Bit late after they have abused him and his family, nothing gracious about the kiwi’s, sad to say. They all but forgot about Bryce Lawrence their statesman of a referee!! Thought Jeff Wilson says they had it in the bag, Not so great now. !!

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Tom 1 hour ago
Borthwick, it's time to own up – Andy Goode

The problem for me isn't the pragmatic playstyle, it's that there is no attacking gameplan whatsoever.


I've got no issue with a methodical, kick heavy, defense centric gameplan. That playstyle won England our only world cup and it's won SA 4 of them. However! You can play in a pragmatic manner but you have to still play heads-up rugby and have the ability to turn it on when you manufacture prime attacking situations. England work very hard to get in the right areas of the pitch and have no idea how to convert when they get there, hence we tried and missed 3 drop goals as we were completely impotent in the 22. I've not seen any improvement in our attack in the last 4-5 years. The only time we got close to the tryline was from an interception, it's embarrassing. I don't know what Richard Wigglesworth is getting paid for.


I agree that England should have found a way to close out that game. Being able to grind out tough games is critical but I'd argue that being unable to string more than a couple of passes together without dropping it and finding a way to get over the gainline is even more important... But frustratingly, they don't seem interested. All you hear is about how close we are to bring a great team, we just need to execute a bit better. I don't see it. I see a team who are very physical, very pragmatic who do some stuff really well and are useless with the ball in hand which adds up to a very average side. They need to stop focusing on getting 5% better at the stuff we're already at an 8/10 level and focus on getting a lot better at the stuff we're doing at a 2/10 level. We have the worst attack of pretty much any side in the world... Argentina, Scotland, Fiji are way more threatening.

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