The former Wales captain was a master at dealing with referees – with the current side having frequently been on the wrong side of the officials
Wales coach Steve Tandy revealed his side have been taking advice from Sam Warburton in order to stay on the right side of referees in the Six Nations.
Discipline has been an early problem for Wales under Tandy. In his first five games in charge, Wales coughed up 65 penalties – receiving 10 yellow cards and one 20-minute red.
However, the 54-12 defeat to France last weekend, while one-sided on the scoreboard, did at least see Wales keep 15 players on the pitch for the full 80 minutes.
Last week, Tandy had suggested Wales’ lowly status in world rugby had perhaps led to a “natural bias” against his side from referees – a concern that Warren Gatland had also held in his second stint.
Having seen Wales take a step forward in terms of their discipline, conceding just nine penalties against France, Tandy again spoke about how his side are improving in that facet of the game.
“I think the referee’s interpretation has huge influence on games and again, we go back and forth, seeking clarification, a lot of things where probably on the weekend I thought the referee did really well,” said Tandy after naming his team to play Scotland. “I thought the team of five were really good really consistent.
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“I thought the manner they spoke to boys, but also we helped ourselves as well in large aspects. And again, I think there’s more that we could have been done.
“There’s interpretation, so you probably know there’s going to be four or five penalties that you’re not going to agree on, but that’s the game. You’ve got to be understanding that, but we’ve got to create clearer pictures.
“We still think there were probably three in the (France) game that we didn’t need to give away. But also it’s trusting the referees.
“Dewi (Lake) is growing as a captain. He interacted with the referee (for a French try that was disallowed), being really specific that France 14 was in front of the ball, asking ‘Can you please go and have a look at that?’
“I think the way we’re interacting is better. And I think it’s for us as coaches understanding we’ve got to control what we can do, but also the game is on the grass.
“It’s how you interact with referees and create the perception because we’re 11th of the world. We’re not refereed differently but there’s also that natural perception in games.
“Against England, there was a couple of harsh ones where you had Daf (Jenkins) going round, where you look at the next English lineout and the same thing happens.
“But that’s what we’ve got to live with too that’s we’ve got to be able to respond to those kind of things and adapt.
“That’s why we’re working heavily and it’s been really good to get teams of three referees in. We’ve been hard on the offside line but also interacting with referees or how they like to be spoken to the best.
“Because it’s not always going at referees for every moment, but rather picking and choosing (your moments) so that’s where Dewi, with all the leaders, have been working and reviewing that aspect of the performance too.”
Part of that has been leaning on Warburton for help.
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The two-time Lions captain was frequently praised for how he dealt with referees during his career, with the way he communicated with Romain Poite during the pivotal third Test against New Zealand on the 2017 Lions tour often pointed to as a perfect piece of ‘referee whispering’.
The former Wales captain said in a Times column before the tournament began that he had been in to visit Tandy’s team, with the Wales coach opening up more on what the former flanker had told his players.
“We’ve had Sam in, he was brilliant and we’ve spoken to him about his leadership,” said Tandy. “He was saying how he’d only go for the big things but he’d always speak really well.
“He could be firm but I think then you build a reputation when you only go to referees for a big moment. I thought James (Doleman, the referee for the France game) and Dewi’s relationship on the weekend (was good).
“Matt Carley, I think it’s his 50th game, which tells you everything about an international referee, he’s been in high-profile games and it’s making sure that we don’t give him pictures to come down on us, but also having that interaction and relationship that we can work a way through the game.”
