All Blacks coach backs technology to aid refs

AUCKLAND (AFP) — All Blacks coach Graham Henry appealed Friday for rugby to make greater use of modern technology to improve refereeing standards.

"Any technology that's going to support correct decisions I'll be totally supportive of and I'm sure the players would be too," he said here on the eve of the All Blacks first Test against England.

"I think it's a major problem with the game at the moment and we need to try and get those things right."

Refereeing errors and oversights have long been a blight on the game, particularly in the murky area of the rucks and mauls.

Following the All Blacks shock World Cup quarter-final loss to France last year, New Zealand rugby bosses discreetly blamed English referee Wayne Barnes for a lop-sided penalty count.

Those accusations were never public, but veteran lock Ali Williams, who played in the ...