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Scrapping captain's referral 'brings it back to being a bit more authentic'

(Photo by Kerry Marshall/Getty Images)

As with recent seasons, Super Rugby Pacific will continue to trial some minor law tweaks in 2022 – but there’s one regulation that’s been scrapped for the season that caused plenty of angst throughout last year’s Super Rugby Aotearoa competition.

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The captain’s referral, which allowed a team to challenge an officiating decision during a match, has been axed.

It’s a decision which should lead to more free-flowing matches, instead of games being stopped for TMOs to run the tape back and check for a small error which may or may not have occurred in the lead-up to a score.

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The captain’s referral was used to mixed success last season, with some egregious, overlooked calls eventually rectified thanks to the law variation but seemingly more often than not, the referral simply slowed down games without changing anything for the better.

The Chiefs and Crusaders were involved with two of the potentially biggest referrals of the year during their two head-to-heads throughout the regular season.

In their first-up encounter, played in front of a raucous Christchurch crowd, Chiefs captain Same Cane employed his side’s challenge shortly after halftime with the Crusaders holding a narrow 11-10 lead.

From a Richie Mo’unga linebreak, the All Blacks pivot attempted to pass the ball infield but it drifted forward and hit the deck before his halves partner Mitchell Drummond could get his hands on the ball, five metres out from the Chiefs’ line. From the ensuing rucks, Leicester Fainga’anuku always wrestled his way over the line but Weber, in an offside position, managed to hold the Crusaders winger up.

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Cane asked the officials to look back at Mo’unga’s pass in-field, which referee James Doleman incorrectly ruled was batted backwards by Weber in real-time. Although replays seemed to indicate that it was, in fact, definitely a forward pass from Mo’unga, the TMO curiously decided otherwise and Weber was eventually yellow-carded, and the Crusaders awarded a penalty try. The decision left the Chiefs reeling and they struggled to remain in the contest with a man down, with the game eventually ending 39-17 in the home team’s favour.

In the second clash between the two sides, the Chiefs looked to have pulled off an unexpected come-from-behind victory, leading 26-25 inside the last minute of play. The Crusaders had been on attack inside the Chiefs’ 22 but lock Naitoa Ah Kuoi managed to secure his team a penalty at the breakdown, effectively ending the contest.

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Crusaders captain Scott Barrett challenged the decision at the breakdown, suggesting that Ah Kuoi had not entered from a legal position, but after a quick check upstairs, Mike Fraser was comfortable that the penalty was the correct decision and the Chiefs were able to wind down the clock and take a valiant one-point victory.

Weber, now a permanent co-captain, alongside Cane, suggested ahead of the Chiefs’ opening game of the season that it was probably a good thing that the law trial had been consigned to the scrap heap – although not because it went against them in a major way in the loss to the Crusaders.

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“I didn’t mind challenging the referees,” he said, “it was just that one that we got… Well, don’t know if I want to bring it back up but I think we got every other one right, we had a relatively good track record.

“I’m pretty sure the referees will be happy to see it go, keep me out of their ear at least this year. Probably brings it back to being a bit more authentic, probably better for the game.”

Captain’s referrals weren’t retained for last year’s Super Rugby Trans-Tasman competition and given the law also won’t be utilised in Super Rugby Pacific, it’s fair to assume the powers-that-be have decided to can it indefinitely.

The Chiefs will take on the Highlanders on Saturday afternoon in the first game of the year to involve New Zealand teams.

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kumar supriya 2 hours ago
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kumar supriya 2 hours ago
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MY NAME IS SUPRIYA KUMAR FROM INDIA PLEASE FIND TIME TO READ THIS CAREFULLY.              AS WE ALL KNOW INDIA IS NUMBER ONE IN THE WORLD IN TERMS OF MAGIC SO DO NOT IGNORE THIS. BE CAREFUL HERE, NOBODY CAN HELP YOU FROM AFRICA OR EVEN SUGGEST HOW YOU CAN GET YOUR EX OR LOVE BACK, ANY TESTIMONIES OF MOST SPELL CASTER FROM AFRICA HERE MUST BE IGNORED, BECAUSE MOST OF THEM ARE SCAM I MEAN REAL SCAM AND FROM AFRICA WHICH I WAS A VICTIM AND I GOT RIPPED OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS BECAUSE I WAS SO ANXIOUS TO GET MY HUSBAND JOHN BACK AFTER HE LEFT ME FOR OVER 2YEARS WITH MY 3YEARS OLD SON JERRY,I HAVE APPLIED TO 7 DIFFERENT SPELL CASTER HERE I MET ON THIS BLOG AND ALL TO NO AVAIL THEY ALL ASK FOR SAME THING SEND YOUR NAME YOUR EX NAME ADDRESS AND PICTURE PHONE NUMBER ETC WHICH I DID OVER AND OVER AGAIN AND MOST OF THEM WERE FROM AFRICA, I WAS SO CONFUSED AND I WAS ALWAYS SICK BECAUSE OF THIS PROBLEM AND I WAS SO DESPERATE TO HAVE JOHN BACK TO ME I LOVE HIM SO MUCH AND COULD DIE FOR HIM. UNTIL A FRIEND TOLD ME ABOUT THE TEMPLE OF DREAMS THE GREATEST SPELL TEMPLE, (templeofdreams1@gmail.com) TEMPLE OF BLACK AND WHITE (GOOD AND EVIL) IN INDIA, AND I DECIDED TO SEND A MAIL TO THE TEMPLE. THE SECRETARY TOLD ME THAT ALL MY PROBLEM ARE OVER SINCE I HAVE DECIDED TO CONTACT INDIA FOR HELP, HE TOLD ME TO EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN ME AND MY EX HUSBAND JOHN AND I DID, I TOLD HIM ALL THAT HAPPENED FROM THE BEGINNING. AND HE SAID TO ME MY CHILD WHAT YOU JUST EXPLAINED TO ME NOW IS A LITTLE PROBLEM TO HANDLE COMPARE TO SERIOUS PROBLEMS THE TEMPLE HAS HANDLED, I WAS SO SHOCKED AND I SAID TO MY SELF WHAT PROBLEM COULD BE MORE SERIOUS THAN THIS. HE TOLD ME WHAT I NEEDED TO DO AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, BUT WHAT HE SAID LOOK SIMILAR TO WHAT I HAVE HEARD IN THE PAST(THAT I WAS TO PAY FOR THE ITEMS NEEDED), I WAS HAVING DOUBT ABOUT IT BECAUSE OF PAST EXPERIENCE, BUT I DECIDED TO TRY SINCE THE TEMPLE IS LOCATED IN INDIA (ASIA) AND NOT AFRICA (NIGERIA AND SOUTH AFRICA) THEY COULD BE REAL AND DIFFERENT. SO I GAVE THEM 50% OF MY TRUST. THIS WAS LIKE A MAGIC AND DREAM COME TRUE TO ME, AFTER TWO DAYS WHEN THE SPELL HAS BEEN CASTEED, JOHN BEEPED MY PHONE AT ABOUT 9:PM I COULD NOT SLEEP THAT NIGHT BECAUSE I REALLY LOVE JOHN AND WANT HIM BACK. BY 7:AM THE NEXT MORNING HE GAVE ME ANOTHER  MISSED CALL I DECIDED NOT TO CALL BACK AS I WAS STILL ON SHOCK,   AT ABOUT 10:AM THAT MORNING HE CALLED AND I PICKED HE SAID CAN WE SEE AFTER WORK TODAY I SAID YES SO HE ENDED THE CALL IMMEDIATELY I GOT OFF WORK HE CALLED ME AND TOLD ME WERE TO MEET HIM, I WAS STILL ON SHOCK, BEHOLD WHEN I GOT THERE I SAW JOHN CRYING WITH TEARS ALL OVER HIS EYES, AND HE SAID TO ME MY WIFE, I AM SO SORRY IMMEDIATELY I HUGGED HIM AND KISSED HIM WHICH I HAVE MISSED ALL THIS YEARS. ALL THANK TO TEMPLE OF DREAMS. IF YOU ARE A MAN OR A WOMAN READING THIS AND YOU ARE PASSING THROUGH SIMILAR PROBLEMS LIKE MINE, DO NOT FAIL TO CONTACT THIS GREAT TEMPLE. HE IS REALLY INDEED A REAL SPELL CASTER.           THE WORST OF ALL IS THAT I DON’T KNOW THE PARTICULAR DOCTOR THAT HELPED ME AS I WAS TOLD THAT THERE ARE MORE THAN 300 SPELL CASTERS WORKING IN THE TEMPLE, UNLIKE THE SINGLE SCAM DOCTORS IN AFRICA. I AM NO LONGER AFRAID OF THE SPELL CASTERS IN AFRICA BECAUSE THE TEMPLE OF DREAMS ASSURED AND GAVE ME HUNDRED PERCENT PROTECTION AND ALSO HELPED ME RECOVER 50% OF MY MONEY THAT I PAYED TO SCAMS FROM AFRICA SOME SERVICES RENDERED IN THE TEMPLE OF DREAMS (1) If you want your ex back. (2) To cure HIV/AID or related illness (3) You want to be promoted in your office. (4) You want women/men to run after you. (5) If you want a child. (6) Are you a contractor and you want to win contract (7) You want to tie your husband/wife to be yours forever. (8) If you need help spiritually. (9) How you been scammed and you want to recover you lost money.     (10)Stop Divorce (11)Invoking of Money Ritual (12)To verify if your online lover is real (13)To verify if your online loan is real (14)To be very brilliant (15)If you are looking for a good job (16)If you are old and want to look young (17) If you want to be free from threats of spell caster in AFRICA And many more.. Email... templeofdreams1@gmail.com  

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