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Twice, Carley, aided by his assistant referees, overruled Adamson when the man in the van had interjected to highlight an incident to the on-field officiating team. The first incident came when Adamson wanted to review Luke Jacobson’s off-the-ball tackle/clean-out on Jasper Wiese. The second came when Ardie Savea whacked Wiese so hard in a tackle that his neck shot backwards in a whiplash motion, which also looked suspiciously like a shot to the head. Carley ignored Adamson’s suspicion of foul play on both occasions – and he was correct to. It cannot be a fun feeling, as a TMO, to interrupt a match for what you believe to be the right reasons only to be told to get back in your box. With these two incidents, Adamson had my sympathies; both incidents looked, in a word, dodgy. It was only through greater scrutiny, with extra angles and the benefit of slow motion, as well as a group discussion on the field, that the correct decisions were reached. This all forms part of a concerted push by World Rugby, since the Six Nations, to limit TMO interruptions in tests. One of the global governing body’s key objectives is continuity and Telegraph Sport understands that the revised TMO protocol concerns three main pillars: foul play, try-scoring, or a clear and obvious howler. The unofficial slogan being pushed to TMOs by World Rugby is: “If in the grey, then stay away.” There is also a desire to speed up referrals so that they take no longer than a minute. Internally, World Rugby believes that there has been a gradual trend upwards, that there was a good shift in the Six Nations which continued into the Nations Championship for the most part, even if those July tests had their issues. There is rightly the understanding that refereeing a game of rugby is an imperfect science, but learnings from the Shape of the Game conference at the end of 2025 suggested that almost all nations were in favour of fewer TMO interruptions. There was a desire for the referee and the assistant referees to own the game on the field, with the TMO as the right-hand man. And, given the futile exercise of chasing perfection, the spectator experience is prioritised. That is not the only procedural change that test match officials have experienced this year. The previous pre-match meeting between the referee and the two respective teams, which happened independently of each other, now takes place with the coaches of both teams present. If one coach declines the invitation, then the meeting simply does not happen. The sentiment was that there was too much pressure on match officials in these meetings, with teams sometimes arriving with libraries of footage, and as many as six members of their support staff. Now, the pre-match meeting takes place openly, between the coaches of each team, if at all. Erasmus has voiced his frustration at the new way of doing business, but it is yet another development which takes the pressure off the referee and allows them to actually, you know, referee. It is baby steps, and progress may well be slow and steady, but after years of the TMO ruling, a relegation of sorts is a step in the right direction. Listen to Elliott Smith’s live commentary on Newstalk ZB Sport and iHeartRadio, or join the Alternative Commentary Collective on iHeartRadio and Radio Hauraki.