Rugby Referee Analysis: Wayne Barnes was BAD! | Bristol Bears vs Sale Sharks Scrums

I have to start off by saying I actually think Wayne Barnes is a good ref, I might not always agree with his interpretations by usually he’s very consistent and that is all you can ask of a ref. However, he had a really bad game in the Bristol Bears vs Sale Sharks game where he was very inconsistent at scrum time. He also didn’t award the dominating team at scrum time and there was a few questionable no calls that went against Sale Sharks, who was dominating most of the scrum but didn’t get rewarded for their efforts. Some of the blame should also go towards the AR who should’ve helped Wayne in the situation where he was on the opposite side of the scrum collapses. After the game Alex Sanderson (Sale Sharks Director of Rugby) came out and was rightfully frustrated by some of Wayne’s decisions regarding scrum time. After reviewing the game it was clear that Sale Sharks had reason to be angry at how the scrums were officiated, especially since they were clearly dominating most of the scrums.