Referee Ben Whitehouse has joined Wales' coaching team ahead of the upcoming Nations Championship. The 36-year-old official has announced he will join Steve Tandy's team as a specialist coach, having previously been brought into camps earlier in the year to help Wales with their discipline.
Focus on discipline
Discipline has been a big focus for Tandy in his first year in charge, with Wales having conceded 74 penalties and seen 10 players sent to the sin-bin in his first six Tests in charge. Since then, Wales have tightened up their penalties conceded in order to push Scotland and Ireland close in the Six Nations before beating Italy and Fiji in Cardiff.
Whitehouse will bring more than a decade of experience as a professional referee, having been involved in matches in international rugby, major European competitions and Rugby World Cups. Prior to becoming a full-time referee, Whitehouse worked as a police officer.
New additions to Wales' staff
He becomes the latest new addition to Wales' coaching staff this year, following on from defence coach Peter Murchie, contact specialist Dan Lydiate, scrum coach Paul James and kicking coach Alex Davies. Tandy had previously referenced Whitehouse being in camp when talking about Wales' improving discipline during this year's Six Nations.
'Wales face natural bias'
Tandy had suggested that Wales' lowly status in world rugby had perhaps led to a "natural bias" against his side from referees, and spoke about bringing in a team of officials to work with captain Dewi Lake and the rest of the squad.
"I think the referee's interpretation has huge influence on games and again, we go back and forth, seeking clarification, a lot of things where probably on the weekend I thought the referee did really well," said Tandy ahead of the Scotland match earlier this year. "I thought the team of five were really good, really consistent.
"I thought the manner they spoke to boys, but also we helped ourselves as well in large aspects. And again, I think there's more that we could have been done. There's interpretation, so you probably know there's going to be four or five penalties that you're not going to agree on, but that's the game. You've got to be understanding that, but we've got to create clearer pictures.
"We still think there were probably three in the (France) game that we didn't need to give away. But also it's trusting the referees. Dewi (Lake) is growing as a captain. He interacted with the referee (for a French try that was disallowed), being really specific that France 14 was in front of the ball, asking 'Can you please go and have a look at that?'
"I think the way we're interacting is better. And I think it's for us as coaches understanding we've got to control what we can do, but also the game is on the grass.
"It's how you interact with referees and create the perception because we're 11th of the world. We're not refereed differently but there's also that natural perception in games.
"Against England, there was a couple of harsh ones where you had Daf (Jenkins) going round, where you look at the next English lineout and the same thing happens.
"But that's what we've got to live with too that's we've got to be able to respond to those kind of things and adapt.
"That's why we're working heavily and it's been really good to get teams of three referees in. We've been hard on the offside line but also interacting with referees or how they like to be spoken to the best.
"Because it's not always going at referees for every moment, but rather picking and choosing (your moments) so that's where Dewi, with all the leaders, have been working and reviewing that aspect of the performance too."
Previous officials in camp
This isn't the first time Wales have brought an official into their camp. Back in the autumn of 2024, Nigel Owens took up a place in Warren Gatland's coaching box for the Autumn Nations Series matches against Fiji, Australia and South Africa.
It's not uncommon elsewhere. After South African referee Jaco Peyper retired from officiating following a nasty injury during Wales' World Cup quarter-final defeat to Argentina in 2023, he joined the Springboks' coaching team as SA Rugby's Law Advisor.
