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Why is Steve Walsh refereeing crucial England v Wales game?
Australian referee has 'previous' with England and has been described as a 'walking timebomb'
THE STAGE is set, the roof is ready, so let’s hope we get some rugby when England and Wales clash in Cardiff on Saturday night. God knows, this Six Nations needs it after what has been arguably the most tedious tournament in living memory.
After the early promise of the opening weekend, when Ireland ran Wales ragged, England powered past Scotland and Italy stunned France, the rugby has been as grim as the weather, culminating in last Saturday’s desperate encounter between Scotland and Wales. That was, by common consent, the worst game in the 13-year history of the Six Nations, ruined by a whistle-happy official who awarded 28 penalties during the 80 minutes.
The referee in question, Craig Joubert, is from the southern hemisphere, as is Steve Walsh, the man charged with officiating in Cardiff tomorrow night. Put bluntly, there is a feeling among many in Europe that southern hemisphere referees just aren’t up to the job, particularly when it comes to overseeing the scrum. Walsh, an Australian, was in charge of last week’s Ireland against France match and he came in for much criticism on the back of another questionable display with the whistle.
For England the prospect of being refereed by Walsh as they attempt to win their first Grand Slam in ten years is not a happy one because the two have ‘previous’. During the 2003 World Cup in Australia Walsh was given a three-day suspension for what the International Rugby Board termed "inappropriate behaviour" during England’s pool win over Samoa, behaviour which allegedly involved squirting water from a rehydration bottle over one of the England coaches after an argument about substitutions.
Walsh was eventually sacked by the New Zealand Rugby Football Union in 2009 after arriving drunk at a refereeing conference in Sydney, an episoide he later admitted. He then moved to Australia, sobered up, and returned as a referee in 2010 having changed his nationality from Kiwi to Aussie, but still bristling with self-importance.
He was in charge of last year's Six Nations encounter between England and Wales, a match the Welsh deserved to win although English fans were convinced their cause wasn't helped by several questionable decisions by Walsh.
It’s not just the English who have had problems with Walsh. Described by a fellow official in 2009 as a "walking timebomb", Walsh was once suspended for four months for verbally abusing Ireland’s Shane Horgan during a British and Irish Lions tour match in New Zealand in 2005. As recently as March this year, he had what one paper called a "physical altercation" with All Blacks centre Conrad Smith during a match between the Hurricanes and the Queensland Reds.
It was crass of the IRB to appoint Walsh as referee for this fixture. They know his reputation and they should have avoided the risk of any potential controversy by giving the game to another referee. Instead the most eagerly-anticipated match in Six Nations rugby for years is in danger of being overshadowed by a man who often gives the impression of believing spectators have paid to watch him, not the 30 players he should be officiating.
As for the rugby, England coach Stuart Lancaster has recalled the half-back pair of Owen Farrell and Ben Youngs, while also bringing back Joe Marler at loosehead prop. The scrum is an area where England believe they have an advantage, a belief strengthened with the withdrawal of Wales captain and flanker Ryan Jones through injury.
The Welsh, however, have a far superior backline to their visitors and their two giant wingers – the 6ft 4in George North and 6ft 6in Alex Cuthbert – will look to make yards out wide.
It will be a fascinating clash of styles as England chase that elusive Grand Slam and Wales know that victory by seven points or more will win them the championship title.
The roof of the Millennium Stadium will be closed so there'll be no chance of the weather ruining the occasion. Let's hope the referee doesn’t.
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Why don't journalists check the facts.
Walsh collided with Smith, accidentally, and immediately apologised. The reason that he is ruling over this game is that there is not a referee in the Bleatingish Isles worthy of a half time orange.
Referees from the Bleatingish Isles are as appalling as the ignorance and lack of manners of bleating and whining tourists from you know where. That the schoolboy who wrote this nonsense refers to the self-important, beggars belief. Nobody is as arrogant as a descendant of the opium pushing slave traders who financed the Industrial Revolution.
PS sneering at people who have suffered psychiatric disease is sick.
suggest some fact checking is needed? Walsh is actually from NZ which is a whole different country from Australia when I last looked!
Walsh is not Australian, he's a New Zealander. When will this country learn that they are two different countries.
Wow. Nasty little xenophobe much? Also for people who lack the wit to read (see above) the article clearly states the ref was a kiwi till he changed his nationality after being banned. This ref has a history of bad calls should not be in charge of major matches. Club level fine, but not international.
Get some perspective mate
He has dual nationality anyway, so he IS also an Australian.
The report states that he changed his nationality from Kiwi to Aussie.
He is currently FROM Australia. Lives and works there, has nationality and a passport.
The report is also quite correct with its infernal that Walsh is not fit to referee a northern hemisphere Rugby match especially one in which England are playing.
He was till he changed his nationality! You would know if you read the article rather than just commenting regardless
eeerrrmm fact checking was done by the journalist and obviously not you. He changed his nationality. As stated in the article. So I suggest reading before commenting is needed just so you don't look silly!
"The roof of the Millennium Stadium will be closed so there'll be no chance of the weather ruining the occasion. Let's hope the referee doesn’t."
The referee just did.
6 nations rugby referee steve walsh is a disgrace!!!
How is he still a ref
Oh dear, quite disappointing when an article about how bad a referee could be turns out to be 100% accurate. Take nothing away from Wales, two well taken tries, but surely you need your best ref for the biggest game of the series not the worst
Shaghai doctor i suggest u check yourself into a clinic cos u seriously have some issues. Do us all a favour and disappear!
Wales played well and deserved the win but Walsh, who has stated publicly he hates the English, rulled England out of the scrum, his calls for not rolling away went against England while wales were allowed to remain there and he was remarkably dubious when reffing the gate.
The penalty count was something like 15 to 3 against England. Bias is the word I would choose.
I also believe England always loose when Walsh is referee, certainly the last three he has refereed England have lost
The ref ruined the game showed clear bias and handed it to Wales (who probably would have won without his help).
I wonder if there were some dodgy betting trends going on in some part of the world tbh.
Spot-on article: Walsh is a pompous narcissist who appeared to have set out to punish England as much as possible. Having said that, Wales still looked the better team. It's a pity, as I think Wales would have won without the advantage of a ref's favour. It tainted an otherwise dominant display, which means I (and all other Welsh fans) will have to put up with our England-supporting friends complaining that the game doesn't count as a 'real' victory.
Everyone one here is missing the point. Whether he's kiwi or Aussie doesn't matter. The important thing is that England lost.
A whole article just re-confirming the world's understanding of the term "whinging Poms"...2 teams, 4 refs, closed roof.....and the team in Red just flat out playing and kicking better.....deal with it i say.
I must have seen a different game to you, All I saw was england contantly failing to touch at scrum time which made the scrum collapse, engish players not moving away at breakdown etc etc. Anyway, if a team is that good, a ref doesnt make them those by 27 points
I watched the game and wales were artually makin an effort to show to the ref that they were rolling away. England were stayin there hopin for the best.m
Congratulations to Wales, only one England player Farrell, might have made the Wales team. however, for England to have allowed this ref to have officiated is ridiculous, they should have adopted Alex Ferguson's stance, but if Robshaw had to deal with him on the pitch, he should have taken a leaf from the great Aussie captain John Eales and advised the ref that if he continued to ref just the one side, then he would be taking his team from the pitch. Great captains are more than just players.
Steve Walsh is a terrible ref, who dislikes England. Having said that, the best team on the day won
You must have watched a different game, with the Welsh always setting the scrum from higher up an driving down. I don't think I've ever seen a game where no scum actually completed. Instead of holding scums, every time the ball broke down the ref might as well have have just given the ball to the Welsh and said, "here have a shot at three points or wear the English defence down some more, I'm sure it will crack soon".
.....and where are you from Shanghai Doc ? Love to know so we can pop some insults at you and your kin. 100% support the article.. Nothing taken away from the Welsh players at all, but the penalty decisions were so one sided this it was almost embarrassing to watch, with Welsh players coming in from the side and being so obvious, yet no decisions against If he's refereeing these sides again great ! I'm off to the bookies pronto !!
Wales were better and played most of their games at a higher performance level, by which I mean greater tempo, better accuracy, more patience. Clearly they have much more experience which also showed. Deserved winners. They would have won even without the referee removing any threat that the English scrum might have offered. The little cameo of Walsh teaching Tom Youngs how to be a hooker was embarrassing to watch. Someone really does need to have a word with Walsh for the sake of entertaining rugby.
So why has he changed his nationality? Because everyone in NZ thinks he's a tool! Ask any kiwi, they can't stand him, they think he's an awful ref and they sacked him because of it, plain and simple. Whether you're welsh or English this am, it doesn't matter he is simply awful. The article above proves that without doubt.
I don't think anyone is disagreeing with result, we're also just being unanimous in saying Walsh is awful .
I'm an out and out Welsh supporter and although happy to have beaten England, mirror what others have said, it absolutely tainted the win! Walsh was our 16th man! We were the better team, but you have to feel for England, I wont be tuning in next time Steve Walsh is refereeing an England match! No room for refs like him tainting our hard earned victories!
They weren't sneering at you. I guess that's the problem with paranoid schizophrenia. Hey doc?
Please not article was written before the match Walsh is just a Crap ref.
Why are Northern Hemisphere games officiated by Southern Hemisphere refs. Everyone knows each hemispheres referees operate differently to the other so why use refs from down under, you are just asking for problems. You would never see a Mexican or Brazilian ref officiating in the finals of the Footballs Champions League which effectively this was. I would rather have had a Welsh referee officiating than Walsh because you know even though the ref would have been Welsh he would have fair on both teams.
When are you Australian chaps going to realise that you are the POME's (prisioners of mother England) and not as you repeatedly and mistakenly call us in the country of England. Just a thought I would point this out.
It's fortunate for the tournament that Wales so won convincingly. The performance of the referee had no bearing on the result and there can be no doubt that they are the deserving champions.
However, it is unfortunate for rugby in general because the margin of victory hides the fact that Steve Walsh put in one of the worst performances I can think of by an elite referee in an international. He was absolutely clueless at the scrum and was scarcely any better in open play.
Adam Jones put in an absolute masterclass in how to manipulate the scrum without getting penalised. Anyone watching from home who knows about front row play could see what he was doing, but knowing that Walsh was refereeing he knew what he could get away with. Grabbing Vunipola's shirt on the touch then pulling him down on the set in the first scrum after Mako came on was a classic example of how he used Walsh's ineptitude to his advantage.
The IRB needs to sort this. Walsh didn't cost England this game, they did that all by themselves by missing 19 tackles and being again unable to take advantage of overlaps when attacking, but what happens if Walsh's next game is between two more evenly matched teams?
Again Matt I don't think you have clue what you are talking about
What a disappointing game. I have never been so cross in watching a rugby match let alone a six nations final. Walsh should NEVER have been anywhere near that match, with his past record and dislike of England which IS common knowledge, what are IRB thinking of. He set out to demoralise England and boy did he manage it. Okay wales might have won but I'm sure the score would have been quite different. Walsh had a major problem with Englands scrums, which was their strong point, he allowed wales to get away with so much, that I'm sure any other ref wouldn't have done. For England to have done as well as they did in all the other matches, showed they were up to beating wales under a fairer ref. Well done England, you gave it your best but for a biased referee you could have done it.
Worst refereeing i have ever seen. Every scrum ended in a penalty for wales. Rugby rulebook for scrums is that they should be a "quick and safe way to re-start the game", not a "long-winded and arduous way to continually remove the ball from one team in order to give the opposing team a shot at yet anoher 3 points". Wales plyed well and i guess deserved it, but they could hardly have lost - steve walsh pretty much made sure that England never had the ball. Oh also, Ashton needs to learn how to tackle.
As soon as I heard who the referee was i knew we had lost, england wasnt at there best, i cannot remember losing by that much in a long time
I watch the welsh tight head bind on the arm (not allowed) three times and turn the English loose head in via hs illegal advantage and collapse the maul but Wash blew up against England.
Also the rules are the scrum is engaged but no side is to compete before the ball is in. The scrum was moving forward before Ben Youngs put the ball in so he delayed and got a penalty awarded against him for denying.
All examples of bad calls but that aside the welsh payed well and the young lads choked.
simple request but does anybody know if england have ever won with walsh as referee?
Sounds like a lot of sour grapes, Wales were penalised also and England didn't take their chances - missed penalties, and when England broke the line, it's a fact that England made mistakes handling the ball. Blaiming the ref is always a cop out. I don't see much forum fans considering how both teams played with 100%. Listening to the responce from Stuart Lancaster, and Clive Woodward, both agree England were outplayed in every area, man for man. Devastating for England really. All this has nothing do to with the Referee, and is quite insulting to say that Wales needed a ref, when the whole bunch of viewers who saw the match, agree it was a fiercely contested match of the highest quality. It's great to hear the bloater opinions though, seemingly knowing better than the professionals who are paid for their opinions. England are young and will get better, Wales are the team for now. I'll always remember how competitive it was, and the tempo. Awesome from both sides.
No sour grapes at all. Almost EVERY post above has said that Wales were the better side and deserved to win. Get that chip off your shoulder and think about the sport OVERALL for a moment. This man has form, just like putting a paedophile back into a school after a jail term. Not the wisest thing to do!!
Walsh has his issues there is no doubt but the fact is that a pack that dominates the scrum and the breakdown will nearly always get the benefit of any doubt.
you are quite correct that the binding on the arm by a tight head is illegal but both sides were guilty of but this is pretty standard for any front row that you see play at most levels of the game.
With the Youngs penalty I think you will find that he presented the ball, once this is done then he must feed it into the scrum. As a front row I find the two most annoying parts of the scrum are the prolonged engagement and the ball been held overly long by the scrum half once presented. One needs to be addressed the other already has, this resulted in the penalty.
Just to highlight I believe he is affiliated to ARU, New Zealanders can work and live freely in Australia they don't need to get a passport nor change their nationality.
There are a number of points in this article that could do with some fact checking but also more that could do with a little more balance. The watergate incident went both ways as I believe the English coach involved was also suspended for pushing Walsh in the tunnel, The Conrad Smith incident was clearly a accident as even Conrad has highlighted.
I think that this article was written specifically to get a reaction from the readers and kudos to the writer as it has, although I would hardly call it a balanced piece by any stretch of the imagination.
do you guys even know much about Rugby? Walsh is one of the best refs out there and his merits prove that. Better than Barnes by a long shot. Personally I like a ref who doesn't take crap from other players.
ps. He's a Kiwi not Australian. Moving to Aussie doesn't make him an Aussie. I watched him.ref last night and he was superb at the scrum, picked up errors that linesman were suppose to get but didn't...
Walsh is a great ref, his merits and awards show that, leagues ahead of Barnes. he's a kiwi not an Aussie, moving to Australia doesn't make him an Aussie. I watched him ref last night and he was superb at the scrum and picked up errors linesman were suppose to see. personally I like a ref who doesn't take crap from coaches, or players unlike pussy football refs who let players walk upto their face.
Finally england penalised rightly for what they always do. Slow the game down in breakdowns and take too long to set there scrum. Still patting themselves on the back for there win over World Champs I suppose but not as good as they thought they were it looks. Experience showed.