“The TMOs are tasked with promoting accurate and consistent decision-making”, the organisers said in a statement.
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“The TMO is a tool to help referees and assistant referees with their on-field calls and the referee remains the decision-maker who is in charge of the process”.
Certainly other teams are hoping referees will be more judicious in consulting the TMO as the tournament progresses.
“There was a lot of ball out-of-play time so we didn’t really get going as a team which I thought was tough, but that is due to the circumstances”, Farrell said.
England beat Fiji 35-11 in the World Cup opener on Friday, however, the hosts had their lead reduced to six with as little as 15 minutes remaining, leading England’s interchange fly-half to suggest Australia and Wales may not have it so easy.
“Hopefully the guys that haven’t experienced it before, they realise just how big this tournament is so I think now the guys just can’t wait to get to next weekend to be honest”. It’s a refereeing error (but) once you give it, you can’t then go back.
“We want to keep the ball in play for as long as we can, we want to play rugby, we want to make the decisions, we want to keep it in-field as much as we can”.
“There’s nothing worse for players than having long, disruptive periods, they tend to slow down a bit, cool down a bit and that makes them more susceptible to soft-tissue injuries as well”.
Milton Haig, coach of World Cup minnows Georgia said the TMO could halt rugby’s television rating rise. Once we got going again I thought it was good again.
England global Owen Farrell said the frequent interruptions could even force teams like England, who favour a fast-paced physical game, to change their tactics.
“These are the games that you love playing in”, he said.
“The average in Cardiff for all match nights is £574, which is 140 per cent more expensive than a night in London during the Rugby World Cup (average of £240), despite London being the UK’s most expensive city for a hotel stay”. “We don’t want to turn into American gridiron, that’s for sure”.
“The TMO is a part of the match official team and the fantastic technology available is a tool to be used in the making of key decisions during matches”, he explained.
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Wales’ game is based on launching waves of hard-running ball carriers, but Farrell is convinced they will be stopped at Twickenham.
