Henry in hot water over TMO jibe?
Graham Henry may be in trouble with SANZAR after he had a full go at the match officials after the Blues' loss against the Crusaders on Saturday.
SANZAR CEO Greg Peters told this website that Henry's comments are being considered for disciplinary action.
"We are aware of the comments he made today [Tuesday] and are considering this matter," said Peters.
This comes less than a week after the Stormers were fined a total of AU$25,000 (about ZAR228,450) and also ordered to pay SANZAR’s costs after they were found guilty of misconduct and bringing the game into disrepute for abusing a match official.
The Cape side faced charges of "insulting and offensive" conduct towards match officials during the Stormers versus Hurricanes match on April 26.
Henry's comments would appear to be a far more serious offence as he was at a formal press conference representing the Blues, whereas the Stormers were not as public with their criticism of the match officials.
Henry is a man who is no stranger to letting the rugby world know how he feels and he did not hold back when speaking to the media after their loss.
The former All Black coach firstly attacked the TMO after he felt that he backed out on making a contentious decision that would have lead to a Blues try.
Henry, speaking at a media briefing in Auckland, said "It was obvious to me, I don't know, he was probably a blind TMO was he? It's an obvious try. Then we had a situation where we had attacked under the sticks, Frank [Halai] went very close to scoring and Andy Ellis is standing in front of the ball. It's a penalty try, isn't it?
"Those sort of things frustrate you but that's part of the game. They were better than us, we accept that, they deserved to win the game. I don't think it's all bad on the Blues' side. We did some good things," Henry added.
The coach does feel that the increased use of the TMO is a good thing when it is done correctly.
"If they get it right that's great. I just thought the Frank Halai [non-]try at the weekend was ludicrous. I could see it and I'm blind," he explained.
The on-field officials were also on the receiving end of Henry's wrath after he felt that they missed some fairly blatant offside calls.
"When you're watching the game you see so many offsides in the line from a ruck. We are sitting in the coaches' box, and I'm sure the Crusaders coaches are doing the same thing, saying 'offside ref, offside line umpires'.
"Those are the things they're there for, not some controversial knock-down of the ball in the five-metre channel, and a yellow card," he said.
He was referring to the yellow-card that Blues lock Calum Retallick received after the referee Glen Jackson adjudged him to have deliberately knocked the ball down. Henry had an interesting take on the whole incident and felt that the lock did well to get hit by the ball.
"Retallick got a yellow-card for knocking the ball down. He's not that good, not that capable. With all due respect to [Retallick] he'll understand what I'm saying. We went down to 14 men and that was the difference.
"He's not good enough to do that. They threw the ball at him. He did a good job getting in the road and he gets yellow-carded. That's bull." Henry said angrily.
The scrum also came under fire from the World Cup-winning coach and Jackson and his assistants allowed Crusaders prop, Wyatt Crockett the opportunity to play however he pleased.
"I think Wyatt got away with murder. I thought a couple of the scrum penalties were frustrating. But after 40 years you get used to it," he explained.
The maul was another area of the game under scrutiny from Henry but he realised that this was an are of the game that was forever evolving which meant it was more difficult to rule on from a reffing point of view.
"You've got to come through the maul, you can't come from outside. That's the only way to stop it," Henry said.
The Blues face the Brumbies this weekend and under Jake White, Henry is aware that the maul could be a big part of their game.
"They play a lot like how the South Africans play obviously, and the maul will be part of that."
Additional reporting: Fairfax NZ
