DIRECTOR of rugby Dean Ryan has slammed Greene King IPA Championship referees for failing to show any progress this season as he continues to see officials make a string of “ludicrous” decisions.
Worcester Warriors begin 2015 in second spot in the league and with a quarter-final of the British & Irish Cup to prepare for following a run of 15 straight victories.
But Ryan said he was still frustrated at the level of officiating in the second tier of English rugby as he believes his side are being to forced to “problem solve” matches and find different ways to win.
Warriors’ driving maul has been one of their biggest weapons this season, but speaking after Worcester’s win over Yorkshire Carnegie last week, Ryan admitted they are having to move away from using it because of the way it is refereed.
“Again today, people were backing off the lineout which is illegal,” Ryan said. “We are six months into the season and we are still talking about something which happened to us against Bristol.
“We are having to play a different way because we are fed up of getting into a driving maul and it ending up being stop-start.
“We went from the halfway line way past the ten metres line and they were still backing off. They then ran around the corner and the official said there was a maul. But if that’s the case you can’t run around the other side. It is just ludicrous and we have been talking about it week in, week out.
“Last week, against London Scottish, we had a disaster at driving lineouts from side entry, so we are having to play more.
“But we should be doing what we are good at and we should have people in the middle who are showing some sort of progress from September to December.”
Ryan said the situation had left Warriors with no option but to call on the country’s top rugby chiefs in a bid to make changes to the way the Championship is officiated.
“We are doing everything we can,” Ryan added. “We are putting pressure on referees and assessors week in, week out.
“We are sending them feedback, but it’s not showing any progress, which means we are going to have to elevate this to higher people and contest what is happening.”