[poyntonshark]

Guess who is reffing the world cup final. go on, guess.

Nigel? The most composed ref of the tournament, the communicator, one of the most respected in the world. Nope.

Ben O'Keefe? Young Kiwi, sensible, composed, straightforward. OK he's from New Zealand so doesn't really know what a forward pass is, but he is consistent. Nope

Angus Gardner? No1 Australian Ref? Nope.

We didn't even get Romain Poite.

No, we got Mr Fecking Bean himself, direct from the home for the bewildered. Described by Aussie pundits at various times throughout this tournament as:-

"A bit all over the place"
"I make that 4 different decisions for the same offence in the last 10 minutes"
"20 minutes in and I think the only person more confused than me is Mr Garces"


I'd rather have Jaco Peyper in charge. Christ, I'd rather World Rugby recalled Jonathan Kaplan!!!



Just for clarity, this is not a case of getting excuses in early. I expect South Africa to be just as frustrated by Garces as England. I have no issue with his impartiality, just his competence.

[GoldFinch]

And he gets in the way at scrums and the breakdown.

I can see both SHs asking him to get the heck out of the way !!

[SimonG]

Have the ECB taken over World Rugby?

[Van Cannonball]

Whilst I agree with the point that there are far better choices, I did at least appreciate Garces pulling Wales up for forward passes not once but twice!

Normally they seem immune to this being picked up so was pleased about that during the semi.

[eBike]

Garces !

A ref that needed to be told not to stand between a 9 and 10 ! "Enigmatic" to say the least.

I would have gone for (based on recent performance) Owens to ref, Gardner or O'Keefe and Poite as assistants.

As for forward passes, Oh Please ! Forward is the new flat. Scrum puts ? Lineout throws ? I suppose as with all "laws" they are subject to interpretation.

Oh well, it is what it is. Let's hope he's "invisible" and the game's a cracker.

[CharlieG]

Apparently Nigel Owens is injured - see https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugby ... njury.html