KEY POINTS:
New Zealand referees have been urged to take a tougher stance during Super 14 by awarding more penalties to deter repeat offenders.
Under the Experimental Law Variations most offences have been downgraded to free-kick status but feedback from coaches is that too many players are infringing because they don't view the short-arm award as punitive.
New Zealand Rugby Union referee high performance manager Colin Hawke says that, while most referees have adapted well some need to take a harder line.
Where some referees were struggling was in determining when an infringement was deliberate foul play and therefore a penalty offence.
The new rules were to speed the game up and decriminalise a raft of minor offences and reserve penalty status for offside and foul play.
Coaching feedback suggests too many refs are blurred on the issue of foul play and failing to deal with repeat offenders who are killing the ball at the breakdown.
"You have got to have strong management of the game," said Hawke. "If a player is lying on the ground holding onto the ball that is in the realm of foul play when a penalty can be awarded. It could also be a penalty and a yellow card and I feel some refs have forgotten about the management of the game and are just giving free kicks.
"We need to get the balance between free kicks and penalties better and that can be hard. If a referee gives five consecutive free kicks at the breakdown at what stage should they become penalties and yellow cards? And if you give a penalty or a card, when do you go back to awarding free kicks?
"I think our referees just need to up the ante a little bit."
Hawke said that point had been made to New Zealand's referees at their weekly Wednesday teleconference and he expects to see stronger management in the weeks to come.
Hawke also said officials would not ease off in their battle to keep players onside. Coaches have expressed concern that already defensive lines are stealing inches at scrum ball and turning the 5-metre gap into a 4-metre gap, sometimes even less.#"Assistant referees have a role to play in setting the alignment of the defensive team. We encouraged them to set that 6 metres back but the feedback we are getting is that there is concern from coaches [about creeping].
"What we find, though, is that assistant referees can alert the referee but it is up to him to decide when the ball has broken and whether creeping has been a material factor.#"This issue came up last year and when we looked at the videos, the referees were shown to be right most of the time.
"Still, we would like to see backlines align with both feet behind the imaginary line and if a referee feels they are not, then he can award a few penalties."
One area where New Zealand referees are holding up strongly is their fitness. Personal trainer Matt Blair has been conducting research for more than a year, monitoring the physical demands placed on referees during Super Rugby games.
He has found that this season referee's heart rates are on average up 8 per cent to 10 per cent per game.
The increased aerobic demand carries a risk as there are extensive research projects that have shown how decision-making is clouded when athletes become fatigued.
But New Zealand's referees are understood to have increased their training loads to enable them to cope and none is reporting fatigue-related concerns.
