Former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio has warned against paralysing rugby by video replays and called for the game to capitalise on the interest in the World Cup.
The 2023 World Cup featured a first-ever red card in the final, shown to New Zealand captain Sam Cane for a dangerous tackle on Springbok centre Jesse Kriel.
MORE: Siya fired up to learn in France
In total, the France-based tournament saw eight red cards and 55 yellow cards, as World Rugby clamped down on dangerous play.
In an exclusive interview with the Telegraph, 2003 World Cup-winning loose forward Dallaglio called for a better balance
“We need to stop analysing ourselves by action replay in every single situation – it’s paralysis by analysis,” the former England captain told the Telegraph. “We want to get the right decisions but we also want a game that flows. That I understand is a difficult balance.
“Where does the referee’s role start and finish? Wayne Barnes refereed the World Cup final brilliantly but seemed to get criticised very unfairly, grotesquely and wrongly, because of the decisions made outside of his remit with the TMO [television match official].
“As far as I can remember the referee used to be the guy who made the decisions. That’s rugby’s challenge – being able to make the product really interesting, fun and digestible, not just on the pitch but off it as well, and grow the audience but equally using technology in the right way.”
Dallaglio also suggested that rugby open its star players up to the wider public, building on the interest in the recently concluded World Cup.
“The game needs to help itself by giving us the personalities,” said Dallaglio.
“Continually showing head contact collisions is not going to help the game. If you continually show cars smashing into each other, you tend not to be too excited about driving.
“We need to market, and grow the game in the right way, showing the right things, while recognising that concussion and player welfare are very, very important.”
Photo: Shaun Roy:BackpagePix