Sean – I think refs are poor now as they ‘rely’ on the safety net of VAR. They think VAR will correct mistakes so let a lot more go, but VAR then only corrects clear and obvious errors and won’t pick up little inconsistencies. They are so used to not making a decision that they have now got into a habit of letting things go.
I think they are so adverse to criticism that they won’t make any decisions.
Not sure if you are in to rugby, but the same is happening in the RWC. They let this new bunker ref make the decisions. Despite seeing the incident clearly on the big screen they will give a yellow and send it to review. Sadly the bunker ref is inconsistent and the decisions have been appallingly inconsistent as a result. Most of the time the ref will even say, clear contact to the head, no mitigation, should be red but we will give a yellow and review. So you know exactly what the ref thinks, but the bunker ref will then keep a yellow for whatever reason.
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