Englishman to feature in Rugby World Cup final despite semi-final loss
Borthwick backs Curry after racial slur controversy calling it a 'World Rugby matter'
An Englishman will appear in Saturday’s Rugby World Cup final between New Zealand and South Africa. That is despite Steve Borthwick’s side being knocked out of the tournament by the Springboks last weekend.
Referee Wayne Barnes, a Premiership official from Gloucestershire, will be the man in the middle for the match. He will be the only Englishman on the field, with Borthwick’s England team dumped from the Rugby World Cup last weekend.
The 44-year-old is one of the most experienced referees in test rugby. He has officiated at the last five World Cups going back to 2007, although got under the skin of the All Blacks at that edition of the tournament.
Barnes will be assisted by Tom Foley as a television match official (TMO). And the mind games have already begun with New Zealand legend Sir John Kirwan telling Barnes that he needs to be mindful of South Africa’s perceived gamesmanship.
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Kirwan insists that Barnes is the most important person in the match, as opposed to any of the players. The former All Black says the referee cannot allow South Africa to control a stop-start game that will work in their favour.
“I think the most important person in this contest is an Englishman called Wayne Barnes,” Kirwan told Rugby Pass’s The Breakdown. “We cannot have a stop-start (game), we cannot have water drinks coming on at every scrum.
“We’ve got to speed the game up because that’s how we’re going to beat them. For me, it’s critical the referee lets the game flow a little bit because South Africa will be trying to slow it down.”
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Barnes has history with New Zealand having infamously been voted the third most hated person in the country after a controversial 2007 Rugby World Cup quarter-final. His failure to spot a forward pass saw New Zealand dumped out of the tournament.
Speaking about the incident to Radio Sport several years on, Barnes said: “Everyone improves over time. I went into the 2007 World Cup probably only refereeing three or four test matches, and I’ve now refereed about 90, so you learn from those games – like New Zealand v France, and of course I’ve learned from my mistakes in that game.
“You’re 28 years old, at the start of your career – I guess it was a bit of a motivator to do a bit better. That’s how I definitely saw it, and this World Cup for me, nobody was talking about Wayne Barnes’ performance, so maybe 12 years of experience has helped do that.”
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