World Rugbyâs latest protocols, strictly limiting the amount of feedback to officials, as well as changing the rules about engaging with them, have left both the Boks and All Blacks in a strange position.

Until this July, coaching teams were allowed to give unlimited feedback via email directly to officials. That has now changed to uploading a maximum of six clips and accompanying notes to World Rugbyâs Athlete Management System (AMS).

That is slightly problematic as it limits dialogue on areas of concern, but the flipside is that it also keeps teams focused on the main problem areas, and not every perceived injustice.

The second new protocol, and the one that will have a direct impact on this series, is that the coaching staff of any team can only meet with the referee before a Test with the approval of the opposing team, and with them in attendance.

As you can imagine, that has killed any chance of pre-Test meetings.

Good, some might say. But there are some very compelling reasons why coaches may want to meet with a referee before a Test, and not only to try to get in their good books.

Itâs also likely to lead to a situation where teams are unhappy with certain aspects of the opposition, and the only way they can express that view is via the media.

The All Blacks have already done it with their view that South African teams, and the Boks, try to slow the game down. They want the game to be faster.

And in response, Bok coach Rassie Erasmus and laws manager Jaco Peyper used their Monday media briefing to counter that narrative.

At the best of times, coaches are cautious about commenting on referees in public (as Erasmus well knows), but now they are using the media to plant ideas in officialsâ heads.

Frustration

In most sports, a pre-match meeting with the referee would not really matter, but rugby has so many opaque areas, and so many laws that have loopholes that are open to interpretation.

Occasionally a coach wants to forewarn a referee about a certain trick play they might use, which falls within the laws, but they just want to ensure the referee understands the law, especially in the heat of battle.

âI think thereâs definitely frustration from the coaches that you canât have meetings with the referee if both teams donât agree,â Erasmus said.

âItâs now at a stage where you almost accept both teamsâ coaches arenât always going to agree to a pre-match meeting.

âI, this week, said, âNo, no, we donât need one,â because it doesnât help now, after theyâve (the All Blacks) have played three games, and now we want to sort out things in three training sessions.

âWe had to look at what they put on the Athlete Management System and then sort of learn from what the answers are from World Rugby.

âIn future (with this protocol), if you want to get something out, you have to get it out here (in a media conference) because you canât really talk to the referee.â

Erasmus used some examples of previous plays the Boks have used, and that came off, because the referee was pre-warned of what was coming.

âThere are small things, which in normal referee meetings you would alert the referees to a plan. We might want to do a midfield maul, so weâd ask him to be aware of that and know the law around it,â Erasmus said.

âNow you canât. Because you must have the meeting with the opposing coach present.

âYou canât say, âListen, we may be doing a front peel in the line-out, so maybe donât stand there because you might not see if itâs obstruction or not.â

âUnder this system, teeing up the referees with things you want to do is very difficult.â

All Blacks coach Dave Rennie confirmed that Erasmus was the one who declined a meeting with the refs under the new protocols.

âNo, thereâll be no meeting. For us to do that, we both have to agree,â Rennie said.

âAnd they sent out an email last week just to have a chat around maybe four key areas, and one of them was around the time wasting.

âRassie didnât feel there was any need to meet. I feel the same way, to be honest. Weâve had conversations via email, and weâve got a summary sent to us this morning, so weâre pretty clear.â

Trust the process

It probably isnât ideal that the group of officials who will run the four Tests in the Greatest Rivalry series are staying in the same hotel as the All Blacks in Sandton.

The Boks didnât go so far as to suggest there might be some quiet comments in the corridor between the All Blacks management and the Test officials, but they let the implication hang.

âThe tough thing for the referees due to the new protocols is that in the past when a referee is in your hotel you could say: âLetâs go for a beer quickly and we have a chat,ââ Erasmus said.

âNow, the poor referee has to say âNo I canât,â because the protocol is both coaches must be there. Dave (Rennie) has probably experienced the same thing.â

When it was put to the Bok management that perhaps there had been some socialising between the referees and the All Blacks management, Peyper was cautious in his response.

âIâve been in the same position many times and we fully trust the blokes that referee the game. So as professionals they have to handle themselves,â Peyper said.

âThe referees have a manager who prepares them, just like Rassie prepares the Bok team.â DM