Ref Cam captures referee JP Doyle hitting the turf after ball passed his way

Here’s a short video from the Leicester Tigers vs Sale Sharks Aviva Premiership match last weekend, showing referee JP Doyle getting too close to the action. It’s not the first time, and on this occasion Ref Cam offered a unique perspective.

It’s from the same match as the Logovi’i Mulipola’s big charge and shows hooker Marc Jones – the man Mulipola ran over in that clip – trying to get in a position to take a pass headed his direction. Unfortunately Doyle got in the way, which provided a quick comedic moment for the fans.

The interesting thing about this is seeing it from the Ref Cam perspective, as the ball looked like it was passed directly at Doyle, when it was in fact nicely floated for Jones’ run.

The Irish referee got in the way, but neither he nor Jones touched or caught it, so he correctly called for the players to play on. “We have to play, the ball didn’t hit me,” he said, and later on the replay you could hear him comment, “Don’t pass it to me!”.

Late last year he actually got in the way too, that time taking a kick ahead in the side of the head. It wasn’t quite Ian Keatley vs Wayne Barnes, but came close enough.