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Bath’s European semi-final defeat to Bordeaux has been surrounded by controversy
Former England international Andy Goode has revealed what really happened during Bath’s Champions Cup semi-final defeat to Bordeaux after the match was surrounded by controversy.
Bath – who slipped to a 38-26 defeat to their French opponents to miss out on a place in the final against Leinster later this month – are set to file an official complaint to European Professional Club Rugby over the lack of footage made available to Welsh TMO Ben Whitehouse, who missed a number of incidents involving Bordeaux players making head contact with their opposition.
Another occasion saw referee Nika Amashukeli gave a knock-on against Henry Arundell which clearly went backwards, while a further incident saw the referee initially give a scrum to Bath before television replays showing Ollie Lawrence coming in from the side prompted him to reverse his decision.
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However, while TMO Whitehouse bore the brunt of criticism from fans and some pundits, it appeared the French broadcasters were not providing the necessary replays throughout the match, with it suggested that the TMO in European competitions only has access to what the host broadcasters show.
While this has been disputed by match broadcasters France Télévisions – who insist that Whitehouse was the sole decision-maker over what replays were shown – Goode, who was on punditry duty for Premier Sports, has said that is in fact the case, with the officiating team forced to do their jobs “with their hands tied behind their back.”
Having branded the situation “a bit of a joke” during Sunday’s match, the former fly-half told The Rugby Pod: “I obviously brought it up in comms because when you’re watching it at home and if you don’t work in TV and don’t see how it works behind the scenes, which I’ve been doing for 15 years, people at home can’t understand the systems behind it.
“To be clear, I said on comms that we’re at the behest of the French TV director, so I can’t call in for replays. When we’re the host broadcaster, I can call down to production and say: “Can I get a replay of that wicked offload, that pass, that break, that high shot?” You can ask for these things.
“People are going “Why aren’t you showing the replay of all the head shots?”, because the Bath fans are pissed off, right? So, I’ve said on comms, it’s not Premier Sports’ fault. It is the TV director who is French, the host broadcaster, who is choosing what replays to show, right?
So, the next point of call is, well, what’s the f***ing referee doing? What’s the TMO doing that? I’ve said it before that the TMO must be having a poo or be in the biscuit tin, and it was clear as day yesterday on comms, I’ve got all the feeds in my ear from the TMO, from the ref, from production. Ben Whitehouse, great man, I can hear him asking the French TV director ‘I need to see more angles of that. Can you get me more angles of that shot?’.
“And the French TV director’s just gone, no, that’s the only angle, and wouldn’t replay it, wouldn’t allow him to do his job. The referees are doing a tough job, but they’re doing a job with their hands tied behind their back because the TMO can’t see the replays.”
Goode, who has faced backlash on social media following his comments on Sunday, further clarified: “There’s people coming at me on Twitter saying that the TMO gets all the replays, but he doesn’t, because there’s different systems in different leagues.
So the URC has Hawkeye, which gives the control to the TMO with all the angles. Champions Cup doesn’t have it, Prem doesn’t have it. So you’re at the behest in the Prem and the Champions Cup of the host TV broadcaster.
“We’ve said it for years in France. The French TV directors, they can find a shot of a beautiful pigeon in the sky or people in the crowd or a shot of the camera through the linesman’s legs looking at a scrum and they do it all in an arty way.
“Yet every time, year on year, there’s big talking points around why hasn’t the French TV director given the replay of the head shot or this or that. It only sits with the TV director from France.”
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