Rassie Erasmus reflects on new referee protocols

Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus has explained World Rugby’s new referee communication protocols after Italy coach Gonzalo Quesada raised concerns over officiating decisions following the Azzurri’s defeat to New Zealand.

Rassie Erasmus Explains Referee Protocols

Erasmus said the Nations Championship is being played under updated World Rugby procedures that limit how coaches communicate with match officials before and after games.

The South Africa coach said teams can no longer directly communicate with referees in the same way as before. Pre-match referee meetings are now only held if both coaches agree to attend. If one coach does not agree, the meeting does not take place.

“These new protocols, it’s been well communicated, ” said Erasmus.

“We weren’t part of the meeting; they changed it there where you can’t communicate with match officials directly anymore, and you can’t have a meeting with match officials before the game.

“I can explain it because I don’t think it’s a secret.

"How it works is the referee on the day would email you and say, ‘Do you guys want a meeting with the referee?’ If both coaches don’t say yes, then you don’t have a meeting. If both coaches do say yes, then you have a meeting together with the referee.”

Nations Championship Officiating Rules

The comments came after Italy’s 47-17 loss to the All Blacks, where Quesada questioned several decisions. One key moment involved Ruben Love, whose yellow card for a deliberate knock-on was overturned after the TMO ruled that an Italian player had knocked the ball on first.

Coaches Limited To Six Referee Queries

Erasmus also said coaches are now limited to submitting six officiating queries through the official review system. Those comments can be viewed by other coaches and referees, making the process more transparent but also more public.

He said the change makes it difficult to raise a larger number of concerns without effectively publishing them to the wider coaching and refereeing group.

“I don’t 100% understand the logic behind it. Not criticising them, of course; they communicated that to us and put it through.

“Another interesting one is you can only put six comments in the system if you have any queries. Back in the days when I sent the video, which was very long, you can now only send in six things you can load up, but everybody sees it anyway now.

“So if you have to load those six things up, all the other coaches see it, all the referees see it, so it’s almost now impossible to criticise the referee because if you have 10 or 12 things that bothered you from the past game or in the game that’s coming, you either have to sit with the other coach and the referee, or you have to put it on the AMS system, they call it, then all the referees see it and all the coaches see it.

"So, it’s almost like you’re publishing something now.”