Barnes bins the card calls

WAYNE Barnes struck an overdue blow on behalf of referees subjected to unsolicited advice from players urging the use of cards against the other side.

When Nick Phipps did just that towards the end of the Australia– New Zealand mismatch in Sydney, England’s finest referee put him in his place.

Where others might have cocked a deaf ear, Barnes wasted no time letting the Wallabies’ scrum-half know he took a dim view of being urged to use a yellow card against the All Black.

He made his objection clear to the Australian captain, Michael Hooper, at being confronted by “a player running up and saying: ‘That’s got to be card.’ Then to say he didn’t say anything is pretty dishonest…” More referees should follow his lead.