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Assistant All Black coach Steve Hansen has added his voice to those wanting multiple test referees while the International Rugby Board wonders at its dwindling resources of top talent.
The All Blacks staff put the suggestion to International Rugby Board referee boss Paddy O'Brien before the All Blacks' latest test win against Ireland, and Hansen has now urged the IRB to take action.
While the idea may have some merit, the IRB is struggling to fill its books with enough experienced officials and those of the highest calibre who also want to travel the world to rule on the top-level tests. The issue will be debated again this month by the IRB.
Hansen said the objective was to help officials because the game was getting too fast for one person to control. He thought two referees would be progress.
Opponents might argue that the touchjudges need to be more pro-active but they are generally officials who are making their way in the sport and have not reached the top level.
The Herald understands O'Brien would like a travelling troupe of top officials to be in charge of all the big internationals but there is opposition to that idea from both administrators and the referees themselves, who would be asked to travel far more extensively.
"Two referees would be good," Hansen said yesterday.
"I just think the game has changed in so many ways, it is so much faster, there are so many more laws, yet the one thing we haven't changed is the referee. He is doing what he has always done and I think it might be time to look at two officials on the park."
The All Black staff broached the concept with O'Brien when they met last week in Dublin. O'Brien was receptive to change because the game has become so much faster.
"Even in the last three years the game has got a great deal faster. Watch a test in '67 and the game is totally different," Hansen said.
The ball was in play for about 39 minutes now while not so long ago there would only be 20 minutes of action.
Hansen was unsure how two referees would work but he was advocating some change as a way of helping match officials.
Perhaps the idea would be that the world's top 10 referees answered to O'Brien and controlled all the main internationals while the top six would rule on the highest-calibre tests, he said. The neutrality of referees was not an issue, as long as the best were involved.
Hansen found it "bizarre" that the most tests refereed by an official was in the high-40s while players could reach that tally in about four seasons.
Meanwhile the All Blacks went to watch a production of Alone it Stands, the play about Munster's 12-0 win against the All Blacks in 1978, after their train trip to Munster.
If they were not quite sure what it all meant, reading the Sunday newspapers on their train journey to the city would have left them in no doubt about what the locals' win meant all those years ago.
Prop Tony Woodcock and centre Conrad Smith were the only casualties from the test win against Ireland but there were no updates on their availability for the weekend test against Wales in Cardiff.
Ireland had remarked how physical they felt the All Blacks were at the breakdown and it appeared they were just trying to keep the visitors' winning margin down. The test had spluttered along but the All Blacks would be far better for that run against Wales while the whole squad was mentally fresh.
