The Vodacom United Rugby Championship would like to provide clarity to the situation which led to uncontested scrums and the removal of a player during the R15 fixture between Munster and the Vodacom Bulls on Saturday, April 19.
Additionally, the Vodacom URC would like to clarify that Andrea Piardi was not originally scheduled to officiate in Round 16 this weekend, and any reporting to the contrary or suggestions that he has been removed from an appointment are entirely untrue.
Overview and Law Application
Due to enforced replacements being made for both of Munster’s tighthead props during the first and second halves, the teams were forced by Law 3.13 to adopt uncontested scrums in the 52nd minute due to a lack of specialist players at that position.
At this point, it was deemed by the match officials that, based upon Law 3.20 that Munster would have to reduce their team to 14 players. The match referee, Andrea Piardi, consulted with the technical zone officials to ensure this was the correct interpretation of the Law.
Normally, the technical officials would have entered the player exchange information into the sideline management app on a tablet, which would have flagged that Munster did not need to reduce their team by one player in this situation. However, performance issues meant the app was not working correctly, and with an incorrect interpretation of the laws, the technical zone officials incorrectly confirmed to the match referee that Munster had to play with 14 players.
In this situation, Munster nominated Alex Kendellen (No. 8) to leave the field. Soon after the reduction in players, Munster queried the error with the technical zone officials in interpreting Law 3.20.
The correct interpretation of Law 3.20 in this situation is applied as follows:
In the First Event, Munster tighthead, Oli Jager (No 3), is removed in the 15th minute for a Head Injury Assessment (HIA). He is replaced by Stephen Archer (No. 18), who remains on the field after Jager did not return to play.
In the Second Event, Archer is removed in the 52nd minute of the game due to a Contact Injury and cannot return. In this situation, it was correctly decided that the game would proceed with uncontested scrums. The removal of an additional Munster player was incorrect.
Additional players are only removed in situations where both specialist tightheads have suffered Contact Injuries; OR a Contact Injury to one player has been followed by a Yellow or Red Card to the replacement; OR a Yellow or Red Card to a player is followed by another card to the replacement.
The error was recognised and the removed player, Kendellen, returned to the field of play in the 66th minute.
Follow-up Actions
In light of the error, the Vodacom URC’s Head of Match Officials, Tappe Henning, communicated with the Munster coaching staff to acknowledge what had occurred.
Subsequently, a full review of the process was conducted, learnings were gathered, and the following actions will be taken.
Referees will be made aware that they must own the process and reminded that they are ultimately responsible and accountable for the final decision of the correctness of any substitutions and all decisions during a match.
All documents regarding Technical Zone Protocols and the Uncontested Scrum Table circulated at the start of the season will be circulated again as a point of emphasis for match officials, technical zone officials and club personnel. Protocols for referees and technical zone officials have also been updated.
Continuation of ongoing training and law interpretation for Technical Zone officials and club personnel.
The Vodacom URC has begun the communication process related to the above ahead of this weekend’s Round 16 fixtures.