EXCLUSIVE: Top 5 referees in the world after the weekend’s matches

The most recent weekend of rugby matches around the world once again highlighted the general ineptitude of referees around the world.

EXCLUSIVE | PLAYER RATINGS: STORMERS PULL OFF GREAT ESCAPE AS REF HAS A SHOCKER!

If doesn’t appear to matter from which country or hemisphere they hail, they ALL seem clueless from kick-off to final whistle.

And let’s not even get started on TMOs!

Anyone who sat through Saturday’s United Rugby Championship (URC) semi-final between the Stormers and Ulster at the Cape Town Stadium would’ve been baffled and bemused by the decisions – or lack thereof – of Scottish referee Mike Adamson and Welsh TMO Ben Whitehouse.

WATCH | MANIE LIBBOK KICKS STORMERS IN URC FINAL. IT WAS OVER, RIGHT?

Spare a thought for Stormers skipper Steven Kitshoff who spent the vast majority of the match a frustrated front-ranker as he questioned decisions made by Adamson.

The clear forward pass NOT called in the lead-up to Ulster’s first try will forever remain a shocker.

How Whitehouse, with the benefit of slow-mo replays, and Adamson himself, who watched it over and over on the big screen, failed to overturn the try is a mystery.

READ | SPRINGBOKS NAME 43-MAN SQUAD WITH SOME SHOCK SELECTIONS FOR WALES SERIES

On two occasions Adamson referred decisions to the TMO when queried by Ulster skipper Iain Henderson in what basically amounted to a ‘captain’s challenge’. Naughty.

Meanwhile, over in the Super Rugby Pacific tournament, Brumbies coach Dan McKellar was filthy with New Zealand referee Ben O’Keefe in their 20-19 semi-final defeat to the Blues.

READ | FRANCE ANNOUNCE BLOCKBUSTER END-OF-YEAR TEST AGAINST SPRINGBOKS

The Top 5 referees in the world:

1. No one

2. Still no one

3. Getting closer

4. Not close enough

5. Empty

READ | WALLABIES TO HOST SPRINGBOKS AT NEW STADIUM IN SYDNEY

There simply isn’t a rugby referee in the world today that when you see he’s down to officiate a match that you with any degree of confidence could feel it’s likely to be controversy-free.

No one.

Wales great Nigel Owens may still be among the best, but he’s retired.

Love him or hate him (the All Blacks do), but England’s Wayne Barnes might be the best of a bad bunch.

One can only hope and pray that Saturday’s United Rugby Championship (URC) final between the Stormers and Bulls isn’t ruined by the match officials.

Here’s looking at you, World Rugby.

WATCH | PHIL BENNETT, ARCHITECT OF THE ‘GREATEST TRY IN THE WORLD’ DIES