Internationally renowned rugby referee and performance analyst Rasta Rasivhenge hopes to introduce the concept of referees becoming performance analysts in Fiji, to mitigate errors and poor decisions made by players on the rugby fields.
Speaking to Times Sports last week at the Grassroots Sevens Competition, Rasivhenge revealed that this approach has become synonymous with Tier 1 rugby nations worldwide, and Fiji should follow suit.
“A lot of teams are getting to that direction getting referees be performance analysts to eradicate the error and non-decision rate that players make on the field,” Rasivhenge said.
“It’s very important that we formulate a system where the performance analysts, the referees, to go and train with the teams to eradicate that. So, I’m looking forward to exposing that here in Fiji and helping people to get into that venture.”
He added that with the constant amendments to the laws of the game by World Rugby, the introduction of referees as performance analysts underscores the significance of referees not just on the rugby field but also off it.
According to him, this approach has been a real game-changer for some of the top rugby nations in the world.
“We look at South Africa; they’ve got Jaco Peyper, we look at France, they’ve got Jerome Garces and we look at England, they’ve got Wayne Barnes,” he said.
“So, it’s fantastic to see more referees becoming performance analysts for the actual teams.”
Should the powers that be consider this concept, Rasivhenge assured that Fiji is richly blessed with talented, top-class match officials.
“So, if I look at the referees here in Fiji, I think there’s so much talent because they are exposed to high top-quality rugby. For myself, I think they’re World Series calibre and a lot of them, I’ve seen plenty of talent, should be on the World Series. I’m very impressed by their performances.”
In terms of tackling the issues of discipline at the grassroots level, he recommends addressing the problem early so players develop and understand the game from a young age.
“So that’s the way we eradicate these errors and non-decisions, and we keep improving the quality of the rugby and actually the application and outcomes of the rugby by doing workshops, educating people, going to the villages and stuff.”
“So, it’s absolutely a great initiative by the Fiji Sports Council for inviting people like us to create these initiatives.”
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