Ian Tempest becomes greatest referee of all time with one decision
One of the biggest gripes amongst the rugby fandom with regards to the laws of the game is the officiating (or lack of officiating) around feeding at scrums. That is until Ian Tempest decided to do something about it.
Feeding at scrums was so rife in the game that the laws were tweaked to allow the side putting the ball in to actually put it in in line with their prop rather than the middle. But that has proven to not be enough, with scrum-halves more or less placing the ball at the second rows’ feet now. It happens in almost every scrum, but Tempest had clearly had enough on Saturday when officiating Northampton Saints versus Sale Sharks.
A Saints scrum was pinged by the referee for feeding, which did not go down too well with the crowd, which is maybe understandable given how often teams get away with it. From then on, most Sale scrums were met by jeers from fans who clearly felt Sale were also feeding as well.
This will go down as an historic day though, when referees stood up against feeding No9s, and many fans will hope that it was not a one-off.
Take a look:
That’s not allowed? #GallagherPrem pic.twitter.com/RVMvrz27OX
— JustIs Sport (@JustIs_Sport) February 18, 2023
Northampton Saints XV: 15 George Furbank (c), 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Matt Proctor, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 James Ramm, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Tom James; 1 Alex Waller, 2 Robbie Smith, 3 Paul Hill, 4 David Ribbans, 5 Alex Moon, 6 Angus Scott-Young, 7 Aaron Hinkley, 8 Juarno Augustus
Replacements: 16 Tom Cruse, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Alfie Petch, 19 Alex Coles, 20 Sam Graham, 21 Callum Braley, 22 Rory Hutchinson, 23 Tom Collins
Sale Sharks XV: 15. Joe Carpenter, 14. Tom O’Flaherty, 13. Sam James, 12. Manu Tuilagi, 11. Arron Reed, 10. Rob Du Preez, 9. Gus Warr; 1. Bevan Rodd, 2. Ewan Ashman, 3. Nick Schonert, 4. Cobus Wiese, 5. Jonny Hill, 6. Jono Ross ©, 7. Tom Curry, 8. Jean-Luc Du Preez
Replacements: 16. Ethan Caine, 17. Si McIntyre, 18. Coenie Oosthuizen, 19. Josh Beaumont, 20. Sam Dugdale, 21. Raffi Quirke, 22. George Ford, 23. Tom Roebuck.
