O'Brien blows the whistle on O'Driscoll furore

When Paddy O'Brien says Brian O'Driscoll's orchestrated campaign to renew interest in the alleged spear tackle that ended the Lions' captain's tour was disgraceful, he does so with his International Rugby Board [IRB] hat on and not as an emotionally involved Kiwi.

O'Brien, the former test referee from Invercargill, arrived in Dublin three months ago as the IRB's referee manager - and wants the world's referees to get tougher.

It's his job to cut through the emotion of the events of that first Lions test in Christchurch and see if there are ways in which such episodes can be avoided in future.

He has no doubt that that the O'Driscoll incident, when the Irishman's shoulder was dislocated after he was cleaned out of a ruck by All Black captain Tana Umaga and hooker Keven Mealamu, has no business in the game.

But he is equally sure that the subsequent reaction by the Lions management and O'Driscoll himself have been in many ways more harmful to the game.

The fact new footage of the incident was made available to coincide with the launch of O'Driscoll's book from the tour is of concern.

"No one would condone what happened to Brian O'Driscoll," said O'Brien. "At the IRB medical conference new footage became available and what was agreed there - when we had another view of it - was, yes, we do know that was nasty and we want that out of the game.

"Now someone has used underhand tactics to make sure this was available to the media the day the book got released. It's very sad that O'Driscoll is now seen in the light he is because no one condones what happened. But bringing it up again to try and get the whole thing about Tana Umaga and Keven Mealamu being the villains was disgraceful.

"I was disappointed New Zealand ended up apologising because everyone will have to apologise for acts of foul play. O'Driscoll is no bigger than anyone else in the game. None of us are proud of the incident

"We have to remember we are the IRB, not the Irish Rugby Board. Hopefully it's been put to bed now."

There endeth the lesson. For O'Brien, the important thing that came of the whole saga was the decision to be much tougher on dangerous tackles.

The new policy is for referees to start at a red card and work their way down - not start at a yellow and work their way up.

And it is not just on spear tackles O'Brien wants referees to get tough. It is his view after almost 20 years of refereeing at the top level that there needs to be a cultural shift where officials re-establish their authority on the pitch.

In recent years respect for referees has eroded. It is not just the skipper who seeks clarity from the referee now, with some teams taking the view they are entitled to have a host of lieutenants chipping in.

O'Brien wants referees to drop the noise levels out on the pitch, and believes that would be best achieved if they were a bit more frugal with their own communication.

"Not even the captain has a right in law to question the referee. Most referees, though, will allow the captain to question them at the right time. It's not a given. To make sure the game is better referees need to stop talking to the players so much. It can become like white noise where players hear ruck, ruck, ruck all the time - it goes over their head.

"I also think that if there is too much talking by players, then bang someone early on. Top referees tell the players beforehand they will talk to the captain and no one else. If you are coach or captain and you see a player on your side give away a penalty for mouthing off, you would be pretty mad. That's all it takes. It is not that hard to bring it back. I thought the Lions - whether it was tactical or not - talked a lot."

The other big area O'Brien is keen to see referees take back is the breakdown. He's been put on a task force to review all the rules of the game, although nothing will come of that before the next World Cup.

But he's not convinced a dramatic law change is needed to clean up an area that blights the game due to contradictory refereeing interpretations. He believes the problem has been caused because refs have allowed players too much leeway.

"It is going to be looked at," said O'Brien about the thorny issue of the breakdown. "We are going to examine all the laws of the game. At the moment referees have stepped back a bit. Coaches and players are taking us to the limit and we let that limit get stretched and stretched.

"I believe that while there are too many laws in the book, if we refereed to the letter of the law, there's not much wrong with it. Everyone goes on about mess at the tackle and says there's no space in the game. Tell that to Rico Gear. Is it that the players' skill levels need to go up?

"There are certain areas we could tighten up on. Our whole aim is that mum and dad can go to a game and understand it. We are allowing players licence to play outside the law. If they do have to enter from behind the gate, and release the ball immediately, and if we start initiating that from these tests then I don't think the tackled ball will be such a big issue at the World Cup."

And now the game's pre-eminent official has spoken about the O'Driscoll affair, maybe that won't be a big issue at the 2007 World Cup.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY