Barnes autobiography
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It wasn’t the forward pass, it was the rest of the game with a plethora of penalties he didn’t call.
That was the reason for one of the most bizarre officiating performances not seen before (ok, maybe some dodgy saffa refs at home) or since.
It looks as though Henry looked at every possible reason and came up with match fixing before dismissing it. Is that right?
Clearly for Henry to even contemplate that shows the magnitude of Barnes failure.
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@Catogrande said in Barnes autobiography:
basket let down
Well it was pretty heavy with all those gold watches
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I get that it wasn't just the forward pass, Barnes' team let him down all round the park that day and I know that they didn't have the same powers or tech they have today but they were still a team. I'm not saying this exonerates Barnes' performance, nor does it exonerate the IRB (was it still them then) that appointed a young up and coming, but still somewhat inexperienced ref to such a high profile game.
As to what Henry said, well one can put whatever slant one wishes on to that but for me, probably better to have not said it. Particularly from a man of his standing.
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@Bones said in Barnes autobiography:
@Catogrande said in Barnes autobiography:
basket let down
Well it was pretty heavy with all those gold watches
Bugger me but you're giving me a hard time typo and grammar wise these days.
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Fair enough, of course you could applaud his openness and honesty. 😀
He had a book to sell and of course that was the biggest controversy for the book.
If you look at the stats of that game, they are staggeringly in favour of the All Blacks. So much so you would expect a 30 point win with the dominance.
Anyway, I’m trying to get over the most recent controversy, not bring up one from 16 years ago!
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Stolen from other site. I think this is from Henry’s book
These statistics revealed that the All Blacks had 73 per cent of the territorial advantage, won 166 rucks to 42 and made only 73 tackles compared with 331 (surely the most ever in a Test?) made by France.
From his own analysis of the match, Henry says Barnes missed 40 penalty infringements by France and that if New Zealand had got all the penalties they deserved, the final score would have been 42-3 or 42-6: “The All Blacks didn’t get a penalty for the last 60 minutes of the game and attacked over 70 per cent of that time.”
He had been so ‘stunned’ by the lopsided penalty count that favoured France (he became physically ill watching the video, in fact) that he “briefly contemplated match-fixing as the only logical explanation’ for the All Blacks upset 20-18 loss to France … I have been involved in 140 Test matches and 20 years of coaching at the provincial level or the level above it and years of coaching international rugby and I’ve never been involved in a game that was like this game.”
In the end, he says he asked the NZRU and the IRB “if there was any, any laws or system that they use to look at bizarre games and look at the possibility of sports betting. But apparently they don’t which surprised me.” The IRB refused to have an investigation which Henry says he found to be ‘incomprehensible’.
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Interesting to see Barnes say even all the other refs were stunned into silence when he got 2007 QF. I actually pretty keen on him as a ref anyway, but like any human he has made mistakes in any game he has reffed, as have all players etc. Even the TMO pointed out his mistake in WC final, when he called back Smith try after Barnes had said it was not a knock on and was one.
As for death threats etc he has recieved etc online, they are from fuffybunnies who are in general gutless wonders as is anyone who uses forums to make hate comments etc about any official/player/etc online. Hell's teeth I got9and heard) plenty of threats when I played game etc like, I will take your head of you prick, I will break your leg, I'll kill you if I catch you etc, but never took them over seriously.
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@dogmeat said in Barnes autobiography:
Is it true Henry requested Barned ref the QF? Never heard that one before.
I would have thought that strange if you’re suggesting an official request. I didn’t think that was allowed? Could be wrong but it just seems a bit, well odd.
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@Catogrande said in Barnes autobiography:
You could be right. Who do you think was paid not to take a drop goal?
That's an irrelevant argument, the whole "we had our chances" thing.
We didn't have all the chances we should have had.
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I still maintain that if Barnes had served up that performance against any of the other big nations (and SA in particular) his days as a ref would have been numbered.
I'm sick of all the choking, should have taken chances better, should have taken the ref out of the equation bullshit. No team should have to contend with that kind of officiating. But yeah Henry, who saw his life's work go up in flames, is the bad guy because in a moment of weakness he briefly makes that suggestion. Who can fůcking blame the guy. God imagine Director of Rugby Flashlight guy in that situation.
Barnes can go furk himself. Some legendary players were forever robbed of a RWC title because of him. Henry at least got a chance at redemption but many did not.
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@booboo said in Barnes autobiography:
@Catogrande said in Barnes autobiography:
You could be right. Who do you think was paid not to take a drop goal?
That's an irrelevant argument, the whole "we had our chances" thing.
We didn't have all the chances we should have had.
It’s our right dammit. OUR RIGHT!
Yeah, you didn’t get the breaks. Everyone knows that. Just like everyone knows that sometimes not getting the breaks is just sport. You didn’t get some of (ok well quite a few) that maybe you should have, but you still had chances; that is not irrelevant.
There are many times when you guys have got the breaks. That’s sport too.
The thing here though is we all tend to fix on the breaks we don’t get, it’s just that some of us don’t dwell on it that long.
Oh and Deans did score! 😀
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@Rancid-Schnitzel said in Barnes autobiography:
Some legendary players were forever robbed of a RWC title
I didn't realise the 07 RWC was going to be decided by the winner of the QF between Team one of Pool C and the runner up of Pool D.
When did they decide to revert to playing semi's and a Final?
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@dogmeat said in Barnes autobiography:
@Rancid-Schnitzel said in Barnes autobiography:
Some legendary players were forever robbed of a RWC title
I didn't realise the 07 RWC was going to be decided by the winner of the QF between Team one of Pool C and the runner up of Pool D.
When did they decide to revert to playing semi's and a Final?
That squad was as close to a sure thing as RWCs get.
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@dogmeat said in Barnes autobiography:
@Rancid-Schnitzel said in Barnes autobiography:
Some legendary players were forever robbed of a RWC title
I didn't realise the 07 RWC was going to be decided by the winner of the QF between Team one of Pool C and the runner up of Pool D.
When did they decide to revert to playing semi's and a Final?
Mate it was a slam dunk. The party was booked, the plane was repainted, or was that 1999? I forget.
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@antipodean and yet the 2011 side which was even stronger and playing at home could easily have lost the Final....
I'm not saying we weren't incredibly unlucky / robbed / whatever in the QF but we have seen how a string of injuries, sendings off etc can undermine even the best teams.
To imply we were definitely going to win in 07 is peak arrogance. Sure we were the favourite, as we have been for most tournaments, but favourites don't always win.
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@dogmeat said in Barnes autobiography:
@antipodean and yet the 2011 side which was even stronger and playing at home could easily have lost the Final....
That's debatable.
To imply we were definitely going to win in 07 is peak arrogance. Sure we were the favourite, as we have been for most tournaments, but favourites don't always win.
Your inference is not what was implied. Simply that that squad was visibly better than the competition.
