'You can't celebrate a try': All Blacks coach Dave Rennie frustrated by TMO circus in Italy test

Sunday, 12 July 2026

Dave Rennie mirrored the fans' frustration at the Cake Tin in Wellington on Saturday night when he highlighted the frequency of interruptions by the television match official (TMO) during the All Blacks' patchy 47-17 win over Italy.

He may be only two-tests deep into his career as All Blacks coach, but Rennie refused to stay in the shadows when it came to opining about one of the biggest problems in international rugby.

When All Blacks captain Ardie Savea began to answer a question about communicating with referee Luc Ramos during the post-match press conference at Sky Stadium, Rennie seized the opportunity to interject.

'Yeah, I think it was good …,'' Savea said. That was as far as he got.

Rennie then clarified there was more than just the ref making decisions. TMO Ben Whitehouse of Wales was in the thick of the action.

'A lot of that is coming for the TMO,'' Rennie said in regards to decisions during the game.

'The TMO came in a lot tonight. So it's hard to celebrate a try in the modern game.

'You have got to wait until the ball has been kicked-off at halfway to celebrate and high five, I think.

'So, yeah, it was definitely a lot of input [from the TMO] tonight.''

New Zealanders have become accustomed to officials keeping interruptions to a minimum during Super Rugby Pacific matches because administrators have been committed to reducing dead time to make games more entertaining.

The fans haven't had the same luxury during the Nations Championship. The flow of the game in Wellington was spoiled by the TMO.

The try - the first of three for the evening - scored by All Blacks right wing Will Jordan in the 30th minute was a case in point.

Jordan, who went on to eclipse Doug Howlett's record for the most test tries for the All Blacks - he has bagged 50 in 56 tests - had received compliments from his team-mates and the sell-out crowd prior to retreating beyond halfway to watch Ruben Love hammer home the conversion.

What happened next epitomised why Rennie had to vent his frustration.

While everyone was still basking in the sight of Jordan snaring his five-pointer, and then applauded Josh Moorby as he earned his first test cap by replacing the injured left wing Leroy Carter, Ramos and Whitehouse were in a discussion that could have led to Jordan's try being overturned.

They wanted to clarify whether there had been a deliberate knock-on by Carter as he regathered the bouncing ball by tapping it into the air prior to catching it and flicking a transfer to Jordan.

'We want to check there is no deliberate knock-on,'' the ref said.

Whitehouse replied: 'We will get the angles up … bear with us.''

Four replays were required before Ramos eventually endorsed Jordan's try, and instructed Italy to return to halfway to restart the game.

'The player caught the ball, there was no deliberate knock-on,'' Ramos said. 'We stick with the on-field decision.''

Sky Sport commentator Grant Nisbett stated: 'Much ado about nothing.''

There was more to come. Several prominent incidents in the second half involved allegations of foul play.

Italy lock Niccolo Cannone received a red card for a headbutt on All Blacks halfback Cam Roigard and first five-eight Love thought he was going to spend 10 minutes in the sin bin when he was yellow carded for deliberately knocking the ball down in the 71st minute.

But, in bizarre scenes, Ramos soon had the TMO making noises in his ear and asking for a review of the decision.

Italy were setting up for an attacking lineout following their kick to the line from the penalty, when Whitehouse - having watched multiple replays - correctly noted Italian halfback Stephen Varney had knocked the ball on before Love touched it.

Love was told the yellow card was invalid and the All Blacks were back to a full quota of players.

The penalty was reversed. The All Blacks were awarded a scrum. 'It's fair to say, the word confusion comes to mind,'' Nisbett added.

When Rennie was asked if he had seen a yellow card rescinded before, he said 'I don't think so''.

'Poor old Ruben, he was fretting a little bit. Two yellow cards in two weeks. So it was nice to get a decision to go our way.''