An IRB statement on referees irked us this week, as world rugby's governing body now believe they have the right to tell us what to think.

"The criticism of referee Wayne Barnes, " the statement said, "following the France versus New Zealand quarter-"nal match on Saturday, 6 October is completely unwarranted." Really? Are we not now allowed to come to that conclusion all on our own? And is it completely unwarranted even if Barnes missed a blatant forward pass in the build-up to France's winning try? Or the fact that he decided to ref Richie McCaw at the breakdown rather than the actual breakdown itself? We have no time for the people who've been having cheap shots at Barnes this week but surely we're all allowed to come to our own conclusions on referees.

KNOW YOUR ENEMY. . . OR AT LEAST TAKE ON HENRY

As the New Zealand nation scratches its collective head and attempts to come up with its rugby team's failure to win the Webb Ellis trophy for a fifth World Cup in a row, perhaps Graham Henry might be regretting a decision he made in the summer of 2005. With the Lions about to arrive in town for a three-test extravaganza, Henry decided he needed some northern hemisphere brains on board and he hired France's English-born defensive coach Dave Ellis as a consultant. Ellis no doubt added something to the whole set-up, it would appear he also took a fair bit away with him.

During the week, Ellis explained how his side's twotackler tactic (the first tackler high, the next one low) effectively put a stop to the All Blacks' offloading game. "If we block the off-load, they are in a foreign situation, the ball is slowed down, " he explained. "There were several occasions in the second half when [Frederic] Michalak hit the guy, Jauzion was in next, we were in, we kept them on their feet, the ball is off the ground, they've taken it into contact, scrum for us. They can't put two men into the ruck, they put five men and their whole structure has gone completely." Would Ellis have picked up on all this had he not had the incredible insight he enjoyed in 2005?

THOROUGHBRED OR DONKEY TO LEAD LIONS?

After hearing Bernard Laporte talk during the week about possibly coaching the Lions in 2009, we started to think who else might be in contention for the job. With Eddie O'Sullivan surely out of the picture, it would appear that there's not an awful lot of other credible candidates out there. Brian Ashton may have done his chances no harm, but the favourite right now would appear to be Ian McGeechan. The current Wasps coach, who has been involved with the Lions on three tours, is set to leave the London club at the end of the 2007/08 season but apparently he's been putting word around that he wouldn't mind coaching the Lions one last time before hanging up the auld clipboard and whistle.

IF IT ALL KICKS OFF, ROLLAND HAS PREVIOUS

We'd like to extend our congratulations to Alain Rolland this week on his appointment to referee Saturday's World Cup final and at the same time pluck a little story concerning the referee from Trevor Brennan's excellent autobiography Heart and Soul. Back in 1997, Leinster played Toulouse away from home and later on that night Denis Hickie arrived back in the team hotel with blood spurting from his nose. The winger had been set upon by a nightclub bouncer for no apparent reason and Trevor and a few of the Leinster squad decided they'd head back to sort the bouncer out.

When they got there, the club was closed but that didn't stop the lads attempting to open it with brute force. The police were then called and although some of the lads made off on foot, five were arrested. The call went back to the Leinster management to get the players out of custody and the next morning, Rolland, who was still playing for the province, went down to the copshop with Jim Glennon to sort it out. According to Brennan, "Alain applied the language and the diplomacy" while Glennon signed the cheque to pay for damage.

Fingers crossed Rolland doesn't have the need for the same sort of peace-making skills on 20 October at the Stade de France.

RUGBY BY NUMBERS 27

The aggregate total of quarter"nal winning margins last weekend, the lowest in the history of the Rugby World Cup.

18 The number of people in millions in France who watched their win over New Zealand last Saturday.