Top games deserve top officials, and it just so happened that the Harlequins v Leicester game last weekend saw Wayne Barnes in charge. As usual, Barnes was calmly efficient and this included several borderline decisions that some people watching, and certainly many in the crowd, neither understood nor agreed with.

Chief amongst these must have been the call against Quins’ No 8 Alex Dombrandt who was penalised for pushing his own player, Joe Marler, into a collision that most people thought was going to end up in at least a yellow card being issued for a high tackle by the second Tigers’ tackler on Marler, Calum Green.

What didn’t register for many would have been the way that Barnes and his team dealt with the scrums. This is an intractable issue that has not benefited from the failure of referees and World Rugby to properly understand the importance of laws like the put-in and not pushing until after the ball is fed into the scrum. It isn’t helped by the fact that not one top referee has played in the front row and yet they all seem to think they are qualified to advise players as to how they should go about scrummaging.

As is always the case, there were a number of scrums which collapsed and were reset. There were a number when Barnes guessed which player was at fault for a collapse or improper binding and so on. There is nothing wrong with using the word guess because only the two props involved actually know who was responsible. This brought forth the inevitable gesticulations from flankers, who also have no idea who was responsible and even a few backs.

All of this could be seen as harmless and a bit of a pantomime. On one level it is just that, but there are wider issues here for officials and the game. At one point in the game both Ellis Genge and Dan Cole were berating one of Barnes’ assistant referees whilst they were warming up as substitutes in the in-goal area. They were obviously disagreeing with Barnes’ decision that held the Tigers’ front row as being responsible for a collapsed scrum.

Whilst both those players have broad knowledge of the scrum, neither should be allowed to engage with any official until they are actually playing on the pitch and even then, they should only do so in an appropriate manner. Entering into any discussion with substitutes, Barnes and his team set a bad precedent and they should not do so. No good can come of them indulging this sort of exchange.