The culture of modern professional rugby analysis is to micro-analyse every aspect of playing and training, incorporating mental and physical wellbeing, to elicit an advantage that facilitates victory.
It’s not just the players that receive that scrutiny as it is commonplace now for teams to complete a dossier on the match referee, complete with his officiating peccadilloes. The briefing will include what he will tolerate when it comes to the main constituents of the game particularly the breakdown, scrum and lineout.
Every aspect of a referee’s personality is parsed, down to knowing how he likes to be addressed and whether he’ll use first names and/or numbers when talking to players, including those of the captains.
Referees naturally differ in their interpretation and what they will prioritise during a match. The colloquialism is “to play the referee”, so it helps to establish a rapport in terms of basic communication.
Given the complex nature of the laws and the myriad offences that take place at every breakdown and the arbitrary nature of deciding who’s at fault in the scrum, understanding a reference’s preferences is important.
On Saturday, France's Jerome Garces will take charge of Leinster's pool match against Wasps in the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.
Leinster coach Matt O'Connor and his charges will be well versed with the Frenchman's style. It's not as if they need long memories: Garces refereed an earlier pool match when Leinster lost 24-18 to Harlequins at the Stoop.
French referees
Garces (41) has refereed Leinster four times in Europe since he started officiating in the tournament in 2011.
The province have won one and lost one at home, with the same statistics for away games.
Against Harlequins, the penalty count was 13-11 in Leinster’s favour, but in the previous match over which Garces presided, they conceded 14 penalties to Northampton Saints’ 11, and lost the match 18-9 at the Aviva stadium.
Since winning their first of three Heineken Cups in the 2008-2009 season, Leinster have come under the auspices of French referees on 14 occasions in the tournament, winning 10 and losing four.
