{"id":453805,"date":"2026-05-31T08:13:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T08:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/453805\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T08:13:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T08:13:13","slug":"ben-okeeffe-campaigns-for-world-rugby-to-innovate-off-the-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/453805\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben O’Keeffe campaigns for World Rugby to ‘innovate’ off the field"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

New Zealand referee Ben O\u2019Keeffe is open to fronting the media after matches like coaches and players do and has urged World Rugby to \u2018innovate\u2019.<\/p>\n

Match officials are often thrown into the spotlight after big games, but they aren\u2019t given the same luxury as the players and coaches in being able to comment on decisions or their performances.<\/p>\n

However, O\u2019Keeffe<\/a> is open to giving it a go, having copped his fair share of criticism throughout his career, particularly during the 2023 Rugby World Cup when he took charge of South Africa\u2019s knockout wins over France and England.<\/p>\n

Top referee calls for World Rugby to innovate<\/p>\n

Former referee Nigel Owens hosts World Rugby\u2019s<\/a> Whistle Watch, and while O\u2019Keeffe is a fan of the show and how it educates fans and clears up controversial incidents, the New Zealander is open to answering questions himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game of rugby is always trying to innovate on the field, and I think we should be trying to innovate off the field as well. The referee\u2019s feedback afterwards is a really important avenue that we haven\u2019t explored enough,\u201d he said on the DSPN Podcast with Martin Devlin.<\/a><\/p>\n

He does admit that doing so in the immediate aftermath of a game is perhaps not the best idea, but he believes that doing so after the officials have reviewed the game and their performance would be ideal.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoaches get to say what they want to straight after a game,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that I would have liked to say a few things as well, straight after, but that is probably not the best time for referees to be giving feedback.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not until I guess the day after, when I\u2019ve actually gone through the decisions, apart from knowing what happened live in my head, that I need to go through in detail what those decisions I made were. So, to be well informed, I reckon that\u2019s really important. Then, like on Monday or maybe even Tuesday, after we\u2019ve done our full review with the rest of the coaches.<\/p>\n

Ben O\u2019Keeffe: \u2018I never want to referee a World Cup final if it meant the All Blacks could win it\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe process will be my management staff, and my coaches, in terms of the referee coaches, will get together and try to be aligned. Once we\u2019re aligned, then you know this is the decision that it should have been.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn a Tuesday, potentially we could do that, and to stop, I guess a lot of the controversy or the continued discussion that happens throughout the week, what if on Tuesday we could say \u2018Yup, hand up, we got that decision wrong, or actually this is the law and this is the reason why we made the decision, this is why the decision is correct. Here are other examples of when it has been correct.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, potentially, what was said in the media or what was said over the weekend is wrong, and I reckon people would love that because people just want to be educated on the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben O\u2019Keeffe\u2019s verdict on controversial 2023 World Cup quarter-final: \u2018I\u2019m still proud\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

French rugby \u2018reiterates desire\u2019 to block World Rugby\u2019s controversial law trial from becoming permanent and \u2018actively advocates\u2019 alternative<\/a><\/p>\n

Impact of the crowds<\/p>\n

O\u2019Keeffe also commented on the impact and influence that a crowd can have on a match. The experienced referee says that the fans jeering and cheering does become white noise and doesn\u2019t really impact the officials\u2019 decision-making.<\/p>\n

However, he does admit that they do keep the officials on their toes, something he only really realised when he took charge of the second British and Irish Lions Series Test against the Springboks in 2021, with the clash taking place behind closed doors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey never really get inside your head, but it\u2019s an interesting feeling that I bring up because I refereed the second Lions test in South Africa a few years ago, when there was no crowd,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when I realised how important it actually is; you do feed off a little bit of the atmosphere, it makes you sharp in the warm-up, during the game. So, it actually helps you as a referee. You feel like when there\u2019s a big tackle, everyone goes, \u2018Ooph\u2019 and you make sure that you make sure there\u2019s no foul play in that.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that\u2019s sort of how the crowd does impact, I guess, the sharpness of your decision-making, rather than actually getting into your head because they\u2019re screaming, they\u2019re yelling at every decision \u2013 that\u2019s all white noise in the long run for us when it\u2019s happening throughout the whole game.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Top New Zealand referee claims World Rugby officials are \u2018aligned\u2019 despite differing law trials<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand referee Ben O\u2019Keeffe is open to fronting the media after matches like coaches and players do…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[229033,1463,1464,111,43,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-453805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ben-o","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}