Kelvin Deaker (Hawkes Bay)
Canterbury vs Taranaki
New Plymouth
Friday 18/9/1998, 7:30 pm

Another new Ref, (another from the Hawkes Bay), and two 'never say die' forward packs - this game was bound to be interesting!

I took notes, which was a new experience, but it was just as well as otherwise this report would be -

"Kelvine Deaker is my favourite type of Referee, so good at doing his job that you can't remember afterwards that he was even on the field!".

Short and to the point, but this isn't that type of Web Site!

Some statistics from "The Press" 19/09/1998:

Mr. Deaker certainly had enough to keep him busy.

So what was the difference between him and his colleague of last week?

Well part of it was technical. The Sky technicians must have turned down Mr. Deaker's microphone. You could still hear everything that he had to say, but it was less 'in your face'. But then Mr. Deaker didn't have as much to say. He only repeated himself to warn defending teams about off-side.

Other times he didn't even bother talking - I saw him nod as reply to one hooker's comments. The sum of this was that the players listened to him, with the noticeable exception of the front rows! I'll get back to that!

When he wasn't not wasting his breath, Mr. Deaker was playing good advantage, making quick decisions on bad rucks and mauls, and resisting the temption to penalize errant scrums. Consistency in rucks and mauls was important in this game, as most players were entering them with the same urgency as parents after TeleTubies at The Warehouse!

I'm sure Mr. Deaker saved a few serious injuries. Of course some rucks were blown too early, but you can't be too harsh when a referee is being consistent. He made one startlingly clever decision when 'pinging' Justin Marshall for carrying the ball back over the 22 from a second half scrum. He rightly treated the kick as 'out on the full'.

I don't think the touch judge spotted it, although this was the same man who recieved advise from a Ball-boy at one stage!

This was a very nigglely game. Much the same as watching the Commonwealth Games Rugby Sevens Final, and I didn't enjoy it then. The front rows didn't get on at all, but I guess that good inter-personal skills aren't what they are there for. So niggle they did!

It may have had something to do with the Taranaki forwards insistence on driving forward, only to be stopped by great Canterbury defence. I guess I would be angry if my 'only' game plan didn't work either! All this made for a frustrating scrum time for everybody, including the Referee.Thankfully it didn't turn into a penalty fest.

So Mr. Deaker you did very well, come back and ref a Canterbury win any time you like!

SG

Damn these Canterbury fans are gracious in victory! What do you bet that the ref gets bagged next time the R&B's get beaten. (sometime next century!)
Let us know what you think!