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          Should World Rugby introduce the TMO for all critical decisions?

          • ESPN staffOct 20, 2015, 04:22 PM

          After referee Craig Joubert awarded a controversial penalty at the death in Australia's last-gasp quarterfinal victory over Scotland, we asked if it was time World Rugby introduced referrals to the Television Match Official [TMO] for all critical decisions. Here are the best responses from ESPN's readers and you can find more on our Facebook page.

          Dimitri Papalashvili Not only TMO for critical decisions but it should introduce new rule that captain 1 time per match can request the TMO. It is working in other sports so why not in Rugby

          Alec Houston This system works really well in Hockey. In other discussion on this I have been tempted by the 2 minute warning from the NFL where penalty decision within 2 minutes of the end of a half are automatically reviewed and the teams and are officials are notified if the decision needs to be overturned but the single referral could work better.

          Mayank This system works the best for Cricket! You people must've heard about Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS). 2 reviews for each team per innings.

          Gus Williams I don't think that the players should have any role in how the game is officiated. That being said, I think that if the referee has ANY doubt in his mind that he should quickly refer to TMO. TMO needs to be sped up. They spend 2 minutes on the thing when you can see what the right decision is in the first couple of angles. As soon as the referee is sure, he should say "Alright, I've made my decision. Thanks." Not "Alright {insert referee name here}, I have a decision for you." No. The on-field referee doesn't need to listen to the TMO unless the on-field referee is in the middle of play and the TMO says an infraction occurred. Nowadays there are stoppages in play so often. Referees are rarely even sure of themselves anymore. That has to change. Perhaps in-goal judges would also help. Anything to refer to TMO less and speed the game up.

          Athol Owen No how long are games going to last, give referees back the control they had and get the players to respect a ref's decision be it right or wrong. It's time the game is given back to the linesmen and ref. Actually get rid of the TMO.

          Stuart Craig Nairn No, just get rid of the TMO, except for plays in the in goal. Like it used to be. The TMO is ruining rugby, pure and simple.

          Miguel Andrés Nooooooo, please don't turn rugby into American football. You'll ruin it. One of the biggest life lessons rugby can teach you is that life isn't fair sometimes. People need to get over this call. 20 million different things could have helped Scotland win and Australia lose. Let's not focus on one simple call

          David Blake You either use the TMO for every decision or for none of them. We want referees to be consistent but they will make mistakes from time to time. Unfortunately for us it was a match changing mistake...

          John Pavlakis No. One of the joys of rugby is in the natural flow of the game, which retains the human factor as well. Just as a player can make an offensive or defensive error that costs his side a game, so can the referee. I am fine with TMO review for scores and foul play, but not for everything.

          Phillip Eastgate Absolutely, in critical matches... Such as matches deciding who will become world champions... Nothing should be left to chance or human error.

          Thomas 'Billy' Bowskill The TMO should just have the power to call out issues to the ref real-time. If the TMO sees in the replay that it should be a scrum, the TMO can just tell the ref to change his decision; same if he sees foul play -- why do we need a formal process? Treat him like a linesman -- if he flags something up, listen to him. The issue is the referral process and the time it takes. The fix is to not make every decision a referral. I also think they should pilot having multiple views on screen at the same time when looking at tries: imagine if we could see a screen with all 4 angles on it, showing the try from all angles at the same time -- no need to keep changing between each one.

          Nick Fraser No, but when the ref is watching a replay on the big screen they could review their decision. I think TMO is maybe taking over the game a little, so I'd rather see the refs calling the obvious decisions rather than referring to TMO. In this instance, the call was not clear. There was obvious dispute from the captain, and Joubert should have at least consulted with his AR to ensue he hadn't missed something.