Media and Communications

Citing Commissioners and Citing Liaison Officers do not have a media role. If you are approached for a comment by media, your standard response should be to refer them to the Match Commissioner.

This is not to say that your role, performance, or judgement will not be the subject of media commentary in later days. Sometimes it is by way of comment about your role generally and sometimes it will be by naming you and criticising your performance personally.

Three media comments that are likely are:

  • criticism for either citing/not citing a player
  • criticism for either citing/not citing a player by team management (Player’s team or opposition)
  • criticising the citing or judicial process for inconsistency between the treatments of separate incidents. E.g. why did player A get cited and subsequently receive a four-week ban, when player B did the same thing and was not cited and therefore not sanctioned.

Know that you are the expert and you have been through the process that is identified in this resource. As a result, you have a far more comprehensive and informed view of what actually occurred. You are also aligned with World Rugby criteria. Media and team management are rarely as well informed as you are.