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The officiating team for New Zealand v Italy was top-shelf: Luc Ramos (France) with the whistle, Nic Berry and Luke Pearce on the touchlines, Wales’ Ben Whitehouse as TMO and Marius van der Westhuizen in the bunker. And yet Wellington’s 47-17 left a trail of contested calls, which DanPat went through one by one in his instant reaction.
The contested tries
In DanPat’s view, none of New Zealand’s early scores was entirely clean: on Darry’s try the grounding is never visible on the TV pictures (though, to be fair, nobody on the pitch protested); on Leroy Carter’s recovery that launched Will Jordan’s first try the ball travels forward, in an incident sitting right on the line between a fumbled control and a self-pass; and on another score there was arguably a screen blocking Menoncello’s defensive connection. Personal readings, openly declared as such — but three out of three went the same way.
How does the bunker red card work?
The referee shows a yellow on the field and the incident goes to the foul play review official, who has a few minutes to either confirm the 10 in the bin or upgrade to red. That is what happened on 51 minutes to Niccolò Cannone for head contact on Roigard at a ruck: red after review, leaving Italy with 14 men for twenty minutes before a replacement could come on.
DanPat doesn’t dodge the incident: watching it back, he wouldn’t swear there was no intent — perhaps frustration, perhaps just a movement to wriggle free. A heavy card, at the worst possible moment.
“Chaotic and unpredictable”: the verdict on Ramos
DanPat’s verdict on the refereeing is blunt — a 4.5 out of 10 — but argued. Not every decision went against Italy, and the first half was handled acceptably: the problem is the method. A referee he calls “extremely chaotic”, hard to read, with a tendency to systematically overrule his own TMO and assistants. The Favretto charged-down kick summed it up: the restart was first given on the goal line, then on the 22, then changed again with a new law invoked. DanPat also flags a possible neck roll on Brex that went unpunished.
The real problem is the laws
The sharpest point of the analysis goes beyond one match: for DanPat, rugby is making itself indecipherable, between ever-changing rulings and grey areas that are no longer the charm of interpretation but plain confusion.
You can’t understand anything any more — and today was yet another match full of situations you could read one way or the other.
The request, between now and the 2027 World Cup, is simple: stop changing the laws, give clear guidance and put the referee back at the centre. Because matches like Wellington deserve to be remembered for the rugby, not the calls.
Read also
- Italy push the All Blacks for 40 minutes, then fall 47-17
- Italy v All Blacks: the lineups and the Marini card
- Japan-Italy 27-10: what really broke
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