MITCH PHILLIPS, London | Monday 10.30am.
RUGBY union’s planned introduction of video referees could be delayed because of concerns about costs, a leading official has claimed.
The experiment was due to begin in the southern hemisphere’s Super 12 regional competition, which kicks off later this month, and the Tri Nations.
But Rian Oberholzer, head of the South Africa Rugby Football Union (SARFU), says New Zealand officials are concerned about the financial aspects of the plan.
”Ourselves and Australia are ready to go but New Zealand have notified us that they have problems,” Oberholzer said on Monday.
Oberholzer said the NZRFU objections were based on the cost of installing extra cameras and facilities for the video referee but said he saw no such problems.
”We are intending to place our video referee in the outside broadcast unit at the game and they can do the same,” he said.
The International Rugby Board is to discuss the issue of video referees in all internationals at their next meeting in Dublin in March although it would appear unlikely that any change would be introduced midway through the Six Nations tournament.
In the southern hemisphere experiment video evidence will initially used only to decide on disputed tries or goalkicks and players would not officially be allowed to ask for a video ruling. — Reuters