IRELAND HEAD COACH Joe Schmidt hopes the use of Television Match Officials (TMOs) doesn’t slow down play.

The Hawk-Eye system has been introduced to assist match officials in making the correct decisions at the World Cup, but it has received some criticism after the opening game of the tournament between hosts England and Fiji was continuously disrupted with six incidents referred by referee Jaco Peyper to video official Shaun Veldsman.

“I think you want to get the right decision, so it’s great that the TMO is available for that,” said Schmidt.

“I think the first half in England v Fiji, someone muttered to me that it was 53 minutes. I’m not sure that’s what we’re looking for, but hopefully that’s going to be the exception and not the rule. Hopefully we can keep it in context.”

Schmidt accepts that TMOs can be beneficial but believes that increased stoppages in the game could lead to more injuries.

I think using the TMO for foul play and deciding tries, it has proven its worth,” he added. “Hopefully games will survive on their own merits and it won’t need to be used quite so often.

“Especially in the world of rugby, we want the game to keep going. There’s nothing worse for players than having long disruptive periods. They tend to slow down a bit, cool down a bit and that makes them more susceptible to soft tissue injury as well.”

Here’s how the last few moments of yesterday’s epic clash played out on Japanese TV

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