The appointment of Wayne Barnes as referee for this Friday night's Six Nations encounter away to Wales has, most probably, engendered a degree of anxiousness amongst Irish fans.
The 37-year-old English barrister cum referee has long since been lauded by many in the English media and, having been a Test referee since 2006, is vastly experienced, having officiated in four World Cups, yet there’s no doubt Ireland’s record with Barnes in charge is disconcerting.
Of course, the crude yardstick of a win-loss record under any given referee does not mean they were influential in the outcome of those matches, nor does it imply that they were in any way biased in any one of those encounters.
Nevertheless, Ireland’s record with Barnes in charge is noticeably worse than with any other referee. All told, Barnes has refereed 13 Irish Test matches, in which Ireland have had four wins and lost nine. Nor do one or two of those wins inspire particularly happy memories of his officiating.
His first Irish match was on that fraught night in Bordeaux at the 2007 World Cup when Ireland just about avoided what might well have been the most embarrassing defeat in the history of Irish rugby when beating Georgia 14-10.
Barnes refereed the ensuing Six Nations game between Ireland and Wales at Croke Park, when penalising Bernard Jackman late on for charging into a Welsh player after the whistle and overturning a penalty in Ireland's favour. Wales won 16-12.
Even when Barnes oversaw Ireland’s 17-15, Grand Slam coronation in Cardiff a year later, his performance would have even been remembered all the more had Stephen Jones’s penalty with the last kick of the game not fallen short – the penalty count having gone 15-5 against Ireland.
Sought recourse
That said, it has to be remembered that Barnes sought recourse to the TMO for what became a trademark, burrowing close-range finish by Brian O’Driscoll when few others in the Millennium Stadium even suspected a try might have been scored.
In the 2010 Six Nations, the scale of Ireland's 33-10 defeat to France in Paris could hardly be laid at his door, and likewise there could be few complaints when he red carded Jamie Heaslip and sin-binned Ronan O'Gara in Ireland's 66-28 defeat to New Zealand in Yarrow Stadium.
Nevertheless, Ireland’s losing run with Barnes continued apace in the 2011/’12 season, when he first oversaw Ireland’s 10-6 defeat in a World Cup warm-up match away to Scotland, and then the 23-21 loss at home to Wales on the opening weekend of the Six Nations.
In the 2012/’13 season, Barnes refereed Ireland three times, and Ireland lost the lot, by 16-12 at home to South Africa, 12-8 away to Scotland, and 22-15 away to Italy, in a game notable for the sin-binning of three Irish players, including Brian O’Driscoll.
Ireland’s seven-game losing run with Barnes as referee came to an end when he took charge of their 26-3 win at home to Wales in the 2014 Six Nations.
In the ensuing Six Nations of 2015, Barnes was in charge of the 18-11 win at home to France, but also Wales' 23-16 win in Cardiff when he was particularly strict, initially at any rate, on tacklers not rolling away as Leigh Halfpenny kicked the home side into a 12-0 lead in the first 13 minutes.
Ireland have not had Barnes as a referee since, but he has been assigned for yet another Wales-Ireland game – his sixth in total, of which Ireland have won two and lost three.
No less than Ireland’s disturbing record with Barnes in charge, similarly a healthier win-loss record with other referees does not, of course, necessarily mean they have been on the “right side” of them.
Relative popularity
Even so, given his relative popularity amongst Irish rugby fans, players and coaches alike, it's perhaps a little surprising to discover that Ireland have a losing record in the 15 Test matches which Nigel Owens has refereed, albeit seven wins to eight defeats.
This has perhaps also been distorted by Owens having refereed three Irish defeats to New Zealand, two of which admittedly hinged on late penalties to the All Blacks in the 22-19 defeat in Christchurch in 2012 and the 24-22 loss to them at the Aviva in November 2014.
Viewed strictly by their win-loss record, Ireland have what might be considered a surprisingly healthy 8-4 win-loss record when Craig Joubert has been the referee. But this includes three wins over second-tier countries at World Cups and five wins at home, including the 2009 win over England, while two of the losses including the 22-11 World Cup quarter-final defeat to Wales in Wellington and the 13-10 loss to England at Twickenham in the 2014 Six Nations.
Perhaps as surprisingly to some, and especially Munster supporters, Ireland have a winning record with Romain Poite as referee, namely four wins and three defeats.
The first two were against Italy, including that nervy 13-11 win in Rome in 2011 courtesy of a last minute drop-goal by Ronan O’Gara (who else?), as well as that Hamilton hammering by 60-0 against the All Blacks in June 2012, the 30-22 opening Six Nations win away to Wales in 2012, the 29-15 win at home to South Africa in November 2014 and latterly the 2016 defeat in Twickenham as well as, of course, this season’s opening-day defeat away to Scotland.
In any event, Barnes will be the man in the middle on Friday and yesterday Simon Easterby made all the politically correct noises about the English referee's vast experience and the Irish management's trust in him.
Well, they would say that, wouldn’t they? In Barnes we trust.
gthornley@irishtimes.com
