Jonathan Davies believes the identities of Television Match Officials should be kept anonymous to boost refereeing in top-level rugby.
The opening weekend of the World Cup saw a clutch of inconsistent decisions regarding head-on-head collisions in France, leading to criticism of the officiating process.
Former Wales star Davies told Lawrence Dallaglio’s Evening Standard Rugby Podcast that TMOs should not be named in order to protect their safety and the integrity of the officiating process. In the past, officials have received credible death threats and arrests have been made over social media threats.
"I think TMOs should be anonymous, we shouldn’t be told who it is," said Davies. "I think they are worried, I think they are influenced by post-match comments on social media. Some of them have had death threats. If you don’t know who they are, they can’t receive death threats. So that’s one way to help."
