Poor decision making in Six Nations makes referees ripe for criticism

While I agree that Martin Johnson's reaction in approaching the referee on the field both at half-time and at the end of the game was a step too far when England played France, too many international referees are still making decisions which are not just controversial but plain wrong.

Imagine if Brian O'Driscoll's try, forward pass and all, against Scotland had remained the difference between the two sides. Ireland seize the Triple Crown and Scotland stutter to a wooden spoon – and all because of the official. Success in sport, as with many things these days, is results driven, so it is more important than ever that referees remain subject to fair and constructive criticism and are held accountable for their decisions.

I question too a selection process which has seen Scottish referees omitted from the IRB Panel in recent years. Why should this be? Is the SRU doing enough to push the case for Scottish referees? During the Six Nations, some of the present incumbents did not exactly cover themselves in glory. It is difficult to accept there are no Scottish referees available who could not do at least as good a job if not a much better one.

Scotland has produced some fine referees in the past, such as Jim Fleming, Ray Megson, Brian Anderson and the redoubtable Norman Sanson. It is time we had some more.

ALAN W SHARP

Strachan Road

Edinburgh

There were only seven scrums in the Scotland v England rugby match, each a time-consuming shambles and with the ball being fed into the second row. According to The Scotsman, there was one line break in the entire match.

With the demise of the tedious rolling maul there are now often only four or five players committed to the breakdown. This results in the remaining ten guys (who are much larger than their predecessors of even 20 years ago) being spread out across the field with only narrow gaps between them. The ball carrier inevitably then goes into contact almost immediately, just as in rugby league.

As it would be impractical to increase the size of the pitch, to me the solution is to reduce the number of forwards to six. This would result in less weight in the scrums, more transparency, cleaner heels, and hopefully the return of the hooker at least trying to strike occasionally against the head.

With fewer players there would be more opportunity for elusive players (remember entertainers like Jim Renwick, Andy Irvine, Keith Robertson, and John Rutherford?) to find space rather than make instant contact.

Having 13 players might upset the traditionalists but so many of the games including even the southern hemisphere ones are now so stagnant that something needs to change.

By the way, the highlight of the Calcutta Cup match for me was the singing of Flower of Scotland which was totally spine tingling, and the lowlight was seeing grown men booing the opposition kicks.

DENIS HOWELL

Mid Liberton

Edinburgh

Now that the dust has settled a bit from Croke Park, may I pass on my congratulations to the Scotland team and especially to Andy Robinson.

Andy seems to have brought real purpose and leadership to the international scene. Hopefully this can be built upon through the passion shown by players such as John Barclay and Johnnie Beattie, which is a welcome throwback to the days of the Calders and John Jeffrey.

But perhaps more importantly, Andy now has experienced what the rest of us have gone through annually – the absolute misery of being a Scottish rugby supporter. He has now felt firsthand the depths that we all plumb as we watch the team, game in and game out, personify the old clich, "so near but yet so far". Now Andy has tasted this, hopefully he (and the rest of the team) will be reluctant to order 'seconds'.

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER

Kinross