So New Zealand have been dumped out of the 2007 World Cup and a nation is in mourning. For the people of these rugby crazed islands, whose global identity is built on their prowess in the 15 man game it is nothing short of a national tragedy.

As they desperately grope around in the gloom cast over the national psyche for answers it is understandable that they look for someone to blame. Like losing a loved one to tragic circumstances, sinews stripped bare to the raw emotions bring out a primeval desire for retribution.

Sport appeals to our most elementary emotional mechanisms - tribalism, instinct, aggression and passion. Rugby has always prided itself on keeping this on the pitch, but now like a pride of lionesses, factions of the New Zealand support are hunting referee Wayne Barnes, who missed a forward pass during a decisive try-scoring move by France.

It must be emphasised that the players themselves have been nothing but graceful in defeat, and have not looked for excuses, but it is maybe a sign of the shallow times we live in that an idiot has felt it necessary to issue a death threat to Barnes.

Has modern society sunk so low that a game is more important to some people than the life of another human being? Are we ready to go and live in the forests again and defend our tree huts with sharpened coconuts? Well maybe, as long as we still have our TV sets to watch the sport and ‘the Mrs’ can watch the latest series of Lost.

Rugby is considered to be a barbarians game played and watched by gentlemen. These events have a cast a serious shadow over our perceptions of this bastion of sport. It has already fouled the game of football. Please can we save the game of rugby before that too descends into a neanderthal’s escape from a miserable existence.

Whilst the blame culture so prevalent in modern society is ultimately responsible for this, it is time the IRB took lengthy steps to defend referees through improvement and unification of the guidelines within which they work.

Rugby verges on the impossible to officiate. The man in charge, must not only keep up with the ever increasing pace of the modern game, but have eyes in the back of his head in order to referee the breakdown and the off-side laws at the same time.

Barnes’s crime was to miss a forward pass. It is completely understandable unless he is expected to keep up with a French back-line in full flow, moving the ball at pace. Referees will always miss forward passes unless they are given assistance.

According to Peter Thorborn, the coach of the United States however, touch judges had been instructed not to help the central officials with decisions regarding anything other than touch, foul play and kicks at the goal. They would not be able to interfere on issues of forward passes, offside and crooked line-out throws.

By leaving the main officials unfairly accountable the IRB are hanging them out to dry. If this is the case the game will eventually be refereed from the stands and no true rugby fan wants that.

The other issue which needs to be clarified is the interpretation of the breakdown. Supporters and players alike from the northern hemisphere are constantly frustrated by southern hemisphere referees’ interpretation of the laws at the ruck, and vice versa.

It is high time the IRB made it crystal clear to referees how it is to be refereed and monitor games to make sure there is consistency from hemisphere to hemisphere, and country to country. If they fail in this task then supporters will continue to be frustrated and dismayed, with only a solitary official to vent their anger at.

Ultimately though, has winning, glory and money become more important than the sharing and camaraderie of a game, or will rugby be left for the people, played and adjudicated by people?