The NERFU Championship, a nice long weekend up in a Northern New Hampshire small town at the bottom of mount washington, North Conway.
I traveled up with two Albany Knicks players on friday evening....going up through the mountains and vermont and into New Hampshire..a beautiful drive.
I was given a full 80 minute game on saturday, Division 4 Monadnock (NH) v. Mad River (VT). I thought I would have got a better game, oh well. I work with what I get. Both of these teams were up to it and put together a fantastic game of rugby with a score of Monadanock 44 - 35 Mad River...it was certainly not a fantastic defensive display. Nevertheless, it was entertaining. Mad River punched in two tries early in the game with some lucky kick and chases...I almost needed to make some key offside calls but managed to get the players to stop before they were really material.
I unfortunately cannot remember too many key moments of the game, but the evaluator had a number of concepts to explain to me. He had a few key messages and concepts:
Manage the tackle, not the post tackle
He told me to really focus on anticipating play even more. Know how this tackle is going to play out before it happens so you can manage all issues before they even become an issue.
Stand up straight, don't shuffle and bend over
Lets face it, I'm tall and goofy. I need to stand up straight, maintain my posture, and exude confidence....laugh less...I'm not trying to be friends with the players, I am refereeing their game. He said overall it was ok, but to really actively think about my posture and rapport with players.
Fitness
I have a bad ankle, I limp a little, and look slow, but I'm not. In order to get over the ankle, I need to be especially fit so it's not even an issue.
Long Whistles, not beeps, when they dont listen.
Work on 'reflex' advantage. I had 6 advantages in this game, one stuck. Not good.
and more and more and more. The evaluator and I had a long very productive discussion. Hopefully he comes to Saranac and sees improvements.
Here is the evaulator comments, I wont go to his stats. They were a lot worse than what I thought, and what all the players thought, was an excellent game.
In our post match discussion we chose to focus on only the two areas we thought would most improve your refereeing in the near to medium term. These were: your mobility around the field (both perceived and real) and your (as a referee) ability to anticipate and manage events rather than merely react to the outcomes of phases such as tackles, scrum engagements and so on. Because you limp from your injury you are perceived to be slower than you are. My impression is that you run quickly and could do even more so if you were absolutely aerobically fit and anticipated and reacted more swiftly to the flow of play. I’d suggest you set yourself a fitness target of Level 11:8 on the bleep test and work with your Physical Therapist to attain this. You might also work at speeding up your immediate acceleration.
The second objective is for you to learn how you can anticipate events (like the probable outcome of a tackle) in order that you can manage it vocally to try to prevent negative outcomes such as pile ups. I enjoyed our discussion on tackle management but would recommend you stock up with DVDs of good rugby (not Super 14) and watch and learn. Put yourself inside the referee. Watch the match through his eyes. What is he seeing? Is he early enough to the tackle to manage it positively? Is he tolerant or harsh toward players on the ground? Does he appear to have his own game plan designed to make the match open, faster, free flowing or intense? Refereeing may be an art, but it is surely grounded in science.
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