Rugby ripped for farcical iPhone scenes as Bunker looms large
Phil Gould was one of many viewers bewildered by the embarrassing sight of referee Andrea Piardi holding an iPhone to his ear during Sunday night’s bizarre Wallabies win over the Springboks in Perth.
Australia beat the world champions 42-38 to extend Les Kiss’ unbeaten streak to five games, despite incredibly being reduced to 11 players in the final minutes.
Andrea Piardi calls it in. Stan
A technological malfunction amid all the mayhem meant Italian Piardi was unable to communicate with his officiating team via the usual method of his earpiece.
Instead, he chatted away on a mobile phone as the images immediately went viral on social media.
It was the second straight occasion that a Springboks game had been marred by such issues, after long, frustrating delays in their win over the All Blacks this month in Baltimore.
It damaged what was an otherwise brilliant advertisement for the code, 12 months out from Australia hosting the Rugby World Cup.
“So the rugby referee, stops the game, to take a call on an iPhone, to talk to the Bunker, about some replays they are running on the big screen,” Nine’s legendary league analyst Gould wrote on X.
“Is this right? They call the referee on an iPhone?? How long has this been going on??”
Stan Sport commentator Sean Maloney was at pains to point that such scenes were far from normal, while lamenting the failure to get it right.
“That can’t be happening in a big Test,” Wallabies legend Tim Horan agreed.
“I think it stopped the whole momentum, the last 10 minutes. The first 70 minutes, brilliant, the way the game flowed. The last 10 took about 25 minutes. World Rugby has to fix that, have to have a contingency plan in place for something like that to happen.”
Morgan Turinui couldn’t help but crack a joke.
“Look, sometimes you get a really cool video on the referee’s WhatsApp group, and you’ve got to look at it,” the ex-Wallabies star quipped.
“Sometimes you just have to do it… it’s a shame for us that we had to deal with that sort of game, but I think we’re pushing towards a Bunker anyway, in terms of that approach to a game with a centralised TMO.”
The NRL introduced the Bunker in 2016, although that system is far from universally popular either.
The Wallabies will now prepare for the Bledisloe Cup opener against the All Blacks at Auckland’s Eden Park on October 10.
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