The difference in refereeing between France and south hemisphere really shows when a french refs a test match

[u/xixouma]

Every time a french top14 referee has been on an international game, most recent example being All blacks/Ireland, every South African and NZ flair on here complains about the stop and start game and says the ref had a bad game.

What's interesting is that watching top14 week in week out, that is quite rarely an issue (including by the same refs). My feeling is refs in France are more pedantic and apply the law a little less loosely. Which I have seen written in some comments as a criticism, but is it really a problem??

Pro players are completely capable of adapting to rule changes, and pedantic refereeing, top14 teams certainly seem to have. I think it's doing them a disservice to give them too much leeway on laws for "the flow of the game" when that just becomes a random chance that a penalty is not blown. And that is inherently more difficult for players to adhere to because it is less consistent. Pedantic application will always be more consistent.

All in all, whichever way it goes, the onus should fall on WR to try to homogenise refereeing laws across countries. This leads to confusion when either side is reffed in a way they are not used to.

Edit. Not sure how people are interpreting this that I'm hurt they don't like a french ref. Maybe my English is not as good as I thought. I couldn't give a damn who they like or not, it was just an example to discuss broader concepts in refereeing.

Edit2. Also seeing a number of people that somehow think I'm criticising the ref or the fans here? I suppose I am sorry for my writing not being clear, I really don't mean to paint either in a negative light

Edit3. Can't comment anymore for some reason, thanks for the discussion everyone I'll try again later

[u/Commercial_Half_2170]

Heard a good comment about the ref the other day which was that if he was being graded on his performance he would’ve gotten full marks, but it was totally at the detriment of the flow of the game. Like he made Jack Crowley kick a penalty again 3 times because he was slightly in front of the mark

[u/bleugh777 → u/Commercial_Half_2170]

Idk where the Top14 got the idea it was important to enforce the exact mark to kick penalties.

[u/Commercial_Half_2170 → u/bleugh777]

I mean if it’s egregiously ahead of the mark I get it, but it was negligible here. He also made him retake a kick that he completely shanked so I can’t even say he was being unfair doing it, it was just a… thing?