Rugby World Cup organisers are to change the way the the man of the match is awarded from the quarter-final stage onwards, after several questionable decisions in recent weeks have left viewers and players alike bemused.
During the group stages, three players have been nominated during a game, and fans vote for their preferred man of the match from the three on Twitter. The problem has been that in order to complete the process in time for the end of the game, the nominees have to be decided on around the 60 minute mark – leaving a whole quarter of rugby to be played.
It led to the bizarre and frankly uncomfortable situation at Twickenham a little over a week ago, when Joe Launchbury was voted as man of the match in England’s 13-33 loss that knocked them out of the tournament – despite sublime performances from Bernard Foley and David Pocock.
Launchbury was then in the awkward situation of having to give a pitchside interview as man of the match, despite the crushing disappointment of having just been knocked out.
In fact, a week later on the same ground, Welsh scrum-half Gareth Davies was voted man of the match in their encounter with the Wallabies – leaving the Australians without a single award despite two of the best performances of the World Cup so far.
Even more hilariously, Uruguayan scrum-half AgustÃn Ormaechea scored a try, received the man of the match award, and was duly sent off all in the space of 10 minutes, during their game against Fiji.
“There is a rethink happening because there have been a few challenges,” head of Rugby World Cup Alan Gilpin said. “Any man-of-the-match scenario where you have a public vote and that public vote takes place at a particular point in the game leads to some anomalies.
“We saw that with the Uruguay player who received a red card shortly after being named man of the match and of course the Launchbury situation.
“We’re looking at that now before the knockout stage and the plan is for the change to be made. We’re adjusting the timing and the way the voting takes place.”
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
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