Pearson and Barnes have case to answer, not Ferris

Tony Leen

Quite the inconvenience for Stephen Ferris and members of the Irish management team in London today, but at least the case they had to answer turned out to be one they had no cause to answer. Whatever.

I can't vouch for the whereabouts this afternoon of the IRB's referee head Paddy O'Brien but I sincerely hope he is blushing. Not at the inconvenience for Ferris or the seven weeks dished out to Bradley Davies. But over the deafening silence with regard to referee Dave Pearson, the assistant who advised Wayne Barnes last Sunday in the Aviva that yellow was the colour when it came to the Davies tip tackle.

I know in the court of public opinion, rugby referees are held to the same account as in other sports. I know that because we all saw the merciless treatment of Alain Rolland for sending off the Welsh captain who later told everyone it was the right decision.

I also know that in other professional codes – and indeed in amateur ones like the GAA - referees are carpeted for seriously inept performances. And so I, and many others, are waiting for Paddy O'Brien to let us know that the assistant referee last Sunday is going to be sanctioned in the same way a player would be if they made a hames of something – they'd be dropped.

Perhaps the IRB's modus operandi is to wait for things to calm down before quietly shunting errant officials into the sidings for a period of time. Bryce Lawrence might understand the concept.

I understand there must be a degree of loyalty and protection for referees and officals and that subjecting them to a public vilification can be counter productive.

But in the same way Rolland was overlooked for the World Cup final, despite the support of the lawmakers last year, Mr O'Brien and co must be considering asking Dave Pearson to step aside from Saturday's Six Nations duty, not least because the country sinned against by the Bradley decision, are the visitors to the Stade de France.

The irony extends further, because Wayne Barnes is the assistant referee who will be offering his guidance on serious issues to Mr Pearson in Paris. And in its findings, the disciplinary panel also found that not only had ferris no case to answer - the penalty decision which won the fgame for Wales was also incorrectly made.

For all its faults, football's Premier League does not fudge when it comes to serious refereeing error. The official in question can find himself operating a division or two south of where he'd want to be for a few weeks. If the IRB is keen to defend its officials, fine. The very least they should do to protect the dignity of the game and the sanity of the watching public is express their disappointment that the laws of the game – so vividly and graphically addressed in the World Cup semi-final – are upheld, and are still as important now as they were in New Zealand.

And yet that really doesn't close the deal for me. Pearson should, by any measure, be stood down for the game in Paris and Barnes put through the rigour and inconvenience of a hearing in Dublin to explain his own role in the yellow card. The best I can say in defence of Barnes is that he didn’t see the Davies incident and was terribly let down by his compatriot at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday.

Hopefully the cock-up isn’t reciprocated on Saturday night.

 

Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/a69eST-vbSg/post.aspx

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