0:00

Football on off the ball. As

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I've mentioned before, it only gave me a taste

0:04

for more. Whether that be with

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Ireland or with club football or whatever the

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case may be. Join in the obsession. Subscribe

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now at offtheball.com/join.

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Rugby Daily on off the ball with

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Wash. Let the confidence last. Welcome to

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Wednesday's Rugby Daily. My name is Richard

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McCormack on the way. A

0:29

new interim CEO for Ulster Rugby. Joey Carbury

0:31

opens up on his decision to move

0:33

to France. And Joe Marlar has his

0:36

unfiltered say on the TMO controversy arising

0:38

from Saracen's Premiership win over Harlequins. First

0:41

up today though, Hugh Macaulay has been

0:43

installed as the interim CEO of Ulster

0:45

Rugby. A former Chief Executive of South

0:47

Eastern Health and Social Care Trust in

0:49

Northern Ireland. He replaces Johnny Petrie who

0:51

stepped down as CEO after five years

0:54

with the province on Monday. Macaulay will

0:56

assume they're all on April 3rd. It's

0:59

not his first dalliance with Ulster Rugby having chaired their

1:01

academy from 2015 to 2019. He

1:04

also coached the likes of Rory Best,

1:06

Stephen Ferris, Chris Henry, Tommy Boe and

1:08

Andrew Trimble at underage level. Commenting

1:10

on the appointment, Paul Terington, the chair

1:12

of Ulster Rugby's Management Committee said. Hugh

1:14

is a welcome addition to Ulster Rugby.

1:16

His senior organisational leadership experience, not only

1:18

in the public sector but also in

1:21

the rugby world, is highly advantageous for

1:23

us at this time. He has a

1:25

proven track record of delivering in the

1:27

challenging area of healthcare and we're looking

1:29

forward to seeing the impact he can have

1:31

with Ulster Rugby. Macaulay says his

1:33

temporary stewardship can help build strong foundations

1:35

for the future at Ulster. Joey

1:38

Carby has opened up on his decision to

1:40

leave Munster for Bordeaux at the end of

1:42

this season. The now former Ireland Ed Hoff

1:44

has agreed a two year contract with the

1:46

Top Catawars Club, bringing to an end a

1:48

frustrating six year spell with Munster. Carby

1:51

has been explaining his decision to head

1:53

to France. Yeah, extremely tough decision and

1:55

I suppose it was...

2:00

a great opportunity that I couldn't really pass

2:02

by and I think the way

2:04

things have gone probably over the last year for me it was

2:07

a few people I've chatted to were just like look,

2:10

a fresh break can do and a fresh start can do the

2:12

world a good for some people so I've

2:14

taken it for that reason and yeah

2:18

really exciting but I suppose there's still a huge amount

2:20

to be played for at the end of this season

2:22

so yeah but no it's

2:24

exciting, it was a bit of sweet, I

2:26

didn't think always had

2:28

the intention to go abroad and try

2:31

something different at some stage of my

2:33

career I didn't think it would happen this early but really

2:36

excited for what's to come but then

2:38

again looking forward to finishing the season

2:40

strongly here as well. Rugby daily on

2:42

off the ball with Dovemen plus carap

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upgrade to Dovemen 72 hour advanced deodorant

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tough on sweat not on skin. Jack

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Ager has signed a new two year contract with

2:51

Conos, the Toyota Prop has made 63 appearances

2:53

following his move from Landstir in 2020, Ager's

2:55

New Deal will keep him with Conos until

2:58

the summer of 2026. England

3:01

will be without number 8 Sarah Beckett for

3:03

their next three games in the women's Six

3:06

Nations, she's been banned by an independent disciplinary

3:08

committee following the red card she was shown

3:10

in Sunday's win over Italy. Beckett

3:12

will miss England's games with Wales and Scotland

3:15

as well as Ireland's visit to Zwickinham, that's

3:17

on April 20th. They

3:19

don't know there are souls from their nose

3:21

holes, that was the reaction of Joe Martyr

3:23

to the explanations surrounding the TMO controversy in

3:26

the premiership at the weekend. During

3:28

Saracen's comfortable win over Marlour's Hardicorns there

3:30

was a clear edge by Quinn's flanker

3:32

Steven Levy's on Owen Farrell after Juan

3:34

Martín Gonzalez had scored Sarri's seventh try

3:37

of the afternoon immediately after the incident,

3:39

TMO Stuart Tarheeg could be heard on

3:41

the television coverage telling referee Christophe Redley

3:43

that he didn't want to investigate the

3:45

matter as it had been

3:48

raised by TNT Sports Co-commodator Austin Healy.

3:50

I think the reason for the Owen

3:53

Farrell being upset and it's worth another look,

3:56

the beast is in with his knees into the wall. It's

4:00

worth a little look. I

4:02

think he slides into the

4:04

rock really late with both of his

4:06

knees. Where he hits Farrell could be really

4:08

interesting. Yeah, what we've got

4:10

now is a paucet, so he needs

4:12

it to get here. Yeah,

4:21

there's a paucet, we've got that boot, so I've got to

4:23

get tickets, well I haven't thought I would talk about it

4:25

in the past. That's how it

4:28

sounded in real time and it's led

4:30

to talk that TMO-led decisions could be

4:32

influenced by match commentary. It has since

4:34

forced an apologetic statement from the English

4:37

RFU, which read, The professional game match

4:39

officials team regret that questions have been

4:41

raised about player safety and decision making.

4:44

Match officials take player welfare

4:46

incredibly seriously and it is

4:49

their overriding priority. At

4:51

the time of the Gonzalez try, the

4:53

television match official Stuart Terheig asked

4:56

the TNT sports director for clips

4:58

around the incident to review in

5:00

the background before deciding whether to

5:03

call an official review into the

5:05

foul play incident or not. This

5:08

is a common request from TMO

5:11

to director that occurs in rugby

5:13

broadcasting to enable the TMO to

5:15

decide whether an official review is

5:17

required. Simultaneously, the

5:20

TMO also checked the grounding

5:22

on the Saracens try. In

5:25

relation to the act of foul play

5:27

committed by Stephen Lewis against Owen Farrell,

5:30

the TMO saw the initial contact off

5:32

the ball. He decided on

5:34

the evidence that it was no more than

5:36

a penalty advantage. As

5:39

Saracens went on to score, that

5:41

advantage was deemed to have been taken, so

5:43

no further action was required. In

5:46

response to Stuart's initial request for images,

5:48

the director asked the TMO if he

5:50

wanted to look again at the incident.

5:53

The TMO declined as

5:55

he was confident in his original decision. At

5:58

the same time, the TNT sports director was commentary

6:00

team also saw the replays

6:02

and posed the question whether

6:04

Louise's actions warranted a review.

6:06

The conversation between TMO

6:09

and director that was broadcast

6:11

live was regrettable. They

6:13

were not intended to be heard outside

6:15

of the broadcast truck, nor were they

6:17

the reason for the foul play incident

6:19

not being formally reviewed. Terheig

6:22

is disappointed that he allowed himself to

6:24

be distracted with interactions with the broadcast

6:26

team and did not communicate

6:28

his decision to the

6:30

on-field match officials. TMOs

6:33

do not actively listen or

6:35

react to the broadcast commentary

6:37

team. TMOs make their decisions

6:40

independently based on their own

6:42

judgment, experience, and in line

6:44

with agreed world rugby protocols.

6:48

However, due to their location at

6:50

the matches, they sometimes overhear commentary.

6:53

The nature of the audio configuration

6:55

in some broadcast trucks and in

6:57

some stadiums means the working environment

7:00

varies from match to match. The

7:04

incident was an unusual and unfortunate

7:06

occurrence. The PGMOT, Premiership

7:09

Rugby and TNT Sports are

7:11

working closely together to

7:13

make sure this does not happen again. The

7:16

three organisations enjoy a close and

7:19

positive working relationship based

7:21

on a mutually beneficial system that has

7:23

worked for many years. All

7:26

parties will continue to work hard to further

7:28

refine and perfect systems to ensure player safety

7:30

and high-quality rugby. Possibly not the end of

7:32

the matter. That's it for today's Rugby Daily.

7:34

Don't forget to subscribe to the OTB Rugby

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Feed to keep this podcast coming to you

7:38

Monday and Friday free of charge. My name

7:40

is Richard McCormack and I'll be back with

7:43

more Rugby Daily for you. Thanks to Doveman

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Plus Care tomorrow. Till then, thanks for listening.