In part 3 of our interview series with Rugby World Cup TMO, Ben Skeen, he discusses his domestic experience, his most memorable experience on field and what the future might hold.
Before you were an international appointee, you spent a fair few years plying your trade domestically as an on-field referee. How many ITM Cup games have you refereed?
Around 15 or 16. Before it became ITM Cup and Heartland I had one game in the NPC Division 1 competition. Most of my time in the national squad was refereeing heartland championship games, about 20 or 21 fixtures at that level.
What’s your strongest memory of a domestic or SANZAR competition?
A very memorable game was refereeing a Heartland Meads Cup Final between Wanganui and East Coast at Cooks Gardens in 2011. East Coast had had a wonderful season to get through to the final and Wanganui had been perennial finalists and often winners. The game was played in front of a very vocal crowd, many of whom had come from the East Coast.
Ben Skeen talks to East Coast Captain Rua Tipoki during Meads Cup Final
It had it all: great tries, flare ups resulting in yellow cards being given, tension across the park and it was one hell of a rugby occasion which really kept me on my toes for the whole 80 minutes. Particularly because it appeared that Wanganui were going to run away with the game but then East Coast made their way back in. Unfortunately, a splattering of ill-discipline made me take more of a role than I would have liked to in a final. It was a tough day at the office and often we are defined by those tough days.
Wanganui won the game 30-10. East Coast’s Captain Rua Tipoki was Yellow Carded at the 61st minute for a punch when they trailed by just two points and player-coach Ngarimu Simpkins received the same sanction 8 minutes later for a similar offence, Wanganui were able to capitalise, pulling ahead. All told, East Coast received three yellow cards and East Coast’s Tipoki would have been the first to admit “We didn’t have 15 players on the field. That’s what killed us” – More at NZ Herald
You officiated at Junior World Championships which looked like hard work, you weren’t in a plush box. How does that compare?
It was a really interesting time, the JWC, in the sense that I was involved in a couple of the rounds but one of the rounds that I missed and also the finals day that I missed were both because I was involved in Rugby Championship fixtures over in Australia.
So it was interesting because it was a different environment – communicating with the referee from the side-lines – I was doing a couple of games a day in Round 1 then the next game was the Wallabies versus the Springboks and then I’m back to do the Semi-Finals of that competition and then finals day to do Wallabies versus Argentina.
So it was great to see the next generation of players coming through and it was important because World Rugby had many of the top referee selectors out here reviewing the next generation of referees coming through. In all honesty, the pressure did not equate to the other weekends in between.
Is the Referee / TMO interaction different between the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere?
No. The interaction isn’t but the facility is. Over here you sit in a box and have one screen that you are able to use. You are often in a position to see the field and have two buttons, one to talk to the referee and one for the director.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the director is one seat in front of you. You have more than one screen that you have available to look at any given time and because the director is in front of him you can just talk over your monitor to him so there is only one button that goes to the referee.
So how long do you see yourself staying involved as a TMO? Surely being involved as TMO doesn’t involve fitness, you could carry on for a while?
There is an element of that but for myself, it does impact on your day job and at some point I need to consider whether it’s fair on my employer and my family. In many ways it’s very different to the game in the Northern Hemisphere for international rugby.
My closest international game would be after a 3.5 hour flight, outside of that it is a fair bit of long-haul to Argentina or South Africa. In Europe, it’s around an hour flight to most locations for those big games so it means that it is not so much of a significant impact on family or work life balance.
Sounds like a great place to be, plenty of roles up there for someone of your experience. What would Hayley think about that?
I’m very privileged to be so lucky with the mix of work-life balance that I currently enjoy. But hey, who knows where ten years’ time leads Hayley and me.
Is it a shame that the Six Nations wasn’t shown live this year in New Zealand?
It’s very disappointing that it wasn’t shown live considering what a big day it was for world rugby in general.
I was aware, going up there that I was in the frame for a Rugby World Cup position and that nothing short of 100% accuracy in my decision making would be required to get me there so I had a whole bunch of supporters hoping and wishing for me to do well and hoping to watch the game live.
You seem to have quite an intense day job. What does your boss think about you gallivanting across the country?
Auckland Grammar School has been hugely supportive under my two headmasters, John Morris and current headmaster Tim O’Connor. Both had been top sportsman or officials in their own right. As a result of that, both understand the challenges of high performance sport and that the involvement of staff in these areas can help to create a more motivated and satisfied employee. So I’m very grateful to the two of them and the Board for their approval for me to be involved in the world rugby environment.
My laptop and phone travels with me, so in some ways the busy nature of school life isn’t too far away, but make no bones about it I am extremely privileged and grateful for their support and the support of the school as a whole.
Our series continues tomorrow, when Ben continues his conversation with interviewer, David Nolan.
