ON THE eve of their quadrennial big bash, World Rugby banged the drum on behalf of their referees, assistant referees, TMOs and technicians – “the best-prepared group of match officials we have ever had and they’ll be supported by so much technology.’’
Alain Rolland, the referees’ high performance manager and no slouch in reaching for the red card in his time, reinforced the point. If foul play produced a flurry of red cards, he said, the problem would stem from the players, not the officials. How wrong can you be? The first week produced incontrovertible...