KEY POINTS:
Did the New Zealand Rugby Union carry out an independent review of referee Wayne Barnes or not? According to a Herald on Sunday source, yes. According to the NZRU, no.
An NZRU staffer adamantly denied such a report was ever compiled but a source close to All Black management was equally forceful when he told this newspaper referee boss Keith Lawrence had compiled a report that "proved" Barnes' performance in the quarter-final was inadequate.
The English referee, 28, who has become a national obsession on these shores and is seen as a hero by certain UK scribes who enjoyed seeing the All Blacks cut down to size, played a pivotal role in the match - missing a forward pass that led to Yannick Jauzion's try, sin-binning Luke McAlister for a dubious offence and failing to penalise the French once in a helter-skelter second half.
That had many critics saying he was out of his depth for such a big occasion and New Zealander Paddy O'Brien, the International Rugby Board's controller of referees, was compelled to launch a predictable, if ham-fisted, defence of Barnes.
The Southland Times reported last week that several New Zealanders with Sports Ears, earphones tuned into the same radio frequency as the referees and touch judges, heard the touch judge call a forward pass, allegedly over-ruled by Barnes.
Quite what the point of Lawrence's alleged report would be is hard to ascertain, other than perhaps to make it easier for the All Black coaches to come to terms with such a shock defeat against a woeful French team.
An NZRU staffer denied the existence of the report before saying nobody would be making any further comment on Barnes.
A source told the Herald on Sunday that Lawrence had in fact carried out his own review and Barnes' mark did not equate to a pass mark for a Super 14 match.
Super 14 referees are marked under a system where 200 marks are allocated for each match. A perfect performance earns, 200 and an adequate performance, or a 'pass' mark, is granted to any score above 150. It is understood that Barnes' performance registered below adequate.
Possibly ironically, Lawrence went ballistic when an unnamed referee awarded Barnes a seven out of 10 when reviewing his match performance for the New Zealand Herald.
In an email to his 25 contracted referees, Lawrence wrote: "Your honesty in owning up will be a very significant mitigating factor in any decisions made about the article. Equally, if you do not own up and we subsequently discover who it is, the fact of not owning up will also be taken into account. You owe it to your colleagues and the NZRU to do the right thing."
