All Blacks coach Graham Henry is unimpressed with the standard of refereeing in this year's Super 14 and he has also called for changes to the international refereeing structure.

While Henry is happy with the current congestion on the Super 14 standings, he stressed that some games had "become a wee bit of a lottery, which is disappointing".

"The competition is exactly what any competition organiser would want; there are about eight teams who can qualify for the finals which is great," Henry told members of the media during a teleconference.

"Some of these games are becoming a wee bit of a lottery. The rugby has been a bit up and down, it's getting better as the season goes on which is the usual for the Super 14.

"Generally speaking the best games have probably been refereed by the better referees.

"Those who are known as established referees at international level usually do a good job and you get a good game."

While he voiced his concern about the usual areas of contention, the scrum and the line-out, he does not believe the Experimental Law Variations (ELVs) caused any of the issues.

"The laws have taken a bit of a battering. [And] I think we hide behind the laws quite a bit, rather than trying to work hard and improving the officiating.

"If we can improve the people with the whistle we would get better games," Henry said.

He suggested that an international panel of referees that would work under one coach and fall under one administration.

While he has spoken to the International Rugby Board's referees boss, Paddy O'Brien, about his ideas, he has no idea when such a plan might come into action.

"They would be answerable to only one boss and I think that would help," Henry said.

"I think that would produce consistency of performance and competition among referees to get better. If we all work together I think we can improve it [the standard of refereeing]," he added.

365

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