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Tue 13 May 2014 | 09:28
Ref Cam captures referee JP Doyle hitting the turf after ball passed his way

5
Comments

Here's a short video from the Leicester Tigers vs Sale Sharks Aviva Premiership match last weekend, showing referee JP Doyle getting too close to the action. It's not the first time, and on this occasion Ref Cam offered a unique perspective.

It's from the same match as the Logovi'i Mulipola's big charge and shows hooker Marc Jones - the man Mulipola ran over in that clip - trying to get in a position to take a pass headed his direction. Unfortunately Doyle got in the way, which provided a quick comedic moment for the fans.

The interesting thing about this is seeing it from the Ref Cam perspective, as the ball looked like it was passed directly at Doyle, when it was in fact nicely floated for Jones' run.

The Irish referee got in the way, but neither he nor Jones touched or caught it, so he correctly called for the players to play on. "We have to play, the ball didn't hit me," he said, and later on the replay you could hear him comment, "Don't pass it to me!".

Late last year he actually got in the way too, that time taking a kick ahead in the side of the head. It wasn't quite Ian Keatley vs Wayne Barnes, but came close enough.

Posted By: Grant Constable

5 Comments

  • drg
    1:30 AM 15/05/2014

    I think I agree with you Davies. Matt, I think the Sale hooker would have taken the ball but he sort of checked himself when he realised the referee was there - and then pulled him over??

    Often players run at referees on the fringes of rucks and referees often blow up when they feel they have either obstructed a player or obstructed the view of a play - In this case it seems fair to say he obstructed the Sale hooker..

    In the spirit of the game it would be nice to have seen him blow up and have a scrum as a result...

  • reality
    11:36 PM 14/05/2014

    Oh right. The definition of 'technically' must have changed without me realising.

  • matt
    5:01 PM 14/05/2014

    He has to stand somewhere. And the ball never touched him, it would have ended up in exactly the same place whether the ref was stood there or in the car park. In fact it looks to me like he was only really involved because the sale player, having over run the pass to no-one, decided to grab hold of him.

  • reality
    8:32 AM 14/05/2014

    Technically he is an Irish referee. He's Irish, and he's a referee, therefore he's an Irish referee.

  • notawelshdavies
    10:42 PM 13/05/2014

    This actually really annoyed me (admittedly as a Sale fan). The referee has clearly had an influence on the game here, and Sale (as a direct result) lose the ball in the next phase.

    Obviously the laws say the ball has to touch him, but surely a more accomplished referee such as Nigel Owens would have let common sense prevail and awarded a scrum to Sale. Why was the ref even standing there in the first place.

    After this overall performance, I regrettably branded him 'worse than Wayne Barnes'. Obviously untrue, but it wasn't his best

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