SARrugby.com

Anybody who watched the Soccer WC saw the case for video ref powers. The new rules being trialed in rugby, allowing the TMO to review up to 2 phases before a try, and to review foul play incidents.....are good rule making.

Most effected, I suppose, will be the many forward pass situations that occur....with false positives and missed calls. But I think it's going to force rugby officials to finally define a forward pass. Jean's pass to Lambie, called forward in the RWCQF, would often have gone uncalled. Like it or not the ball does drift forward from a passer in motion. To me this remains a massive grey area.

In terms of foul play, this hopefully will even up the excessive punishment meted out to retaliators, when the original perpetrator often goes unpunished. It seems to me the Boks often fall foul of this passive aggressive little rule.

 I am all for getting a right decision Moz. Frankly given the appaling down under refs we suffer under anything that means a fairer deal must be welcomed.

Your last point is fair comment. nz made this an art form at one stage. As soon as we got a penalty they would dish out some foul play Boks would retaliate and and the penalty would be reversed. Typical ab sportmanship of course but improvements like this give one some hope.

The only point of concern is you could still have a bent nz offical offication as the TMO! 

 It is rumoured that it is no coincidence Richie Mccaw took his sabatical when the increased powers of TMO are being introduced. One wonders how much it will effect his game. Does it apply to playing the ball on the ground?