England's Mark Cueto stretches for the line during his side's Rugby World Cup 2007 defeat © Getty Images

Pop Quiz: Who was in the TMO booth when TV technology made its debut on the international rugby stage? (answer to follow...)

Now, I'm not normally one for kicking a man when he is down but in this instance I am more than happy to wield our sport for a little Blatter-bashing.

Putting the real story to one side, that being England's astounding mediocrity, FIFA president Sepp Blatter's historical reluctance to embrace technology in the form of TV replays has always seemed nonsensical and two high profile errors - the decision not to award Frank Lampard a goal against Germany and the equally woeful call to allow an offside effort from Argentina's Carlos Tevez to stand - have made the sport look even more foolish.

How a sport with football's status can let itself be dragged into such a mire is beyond me. With the eyes of the world watching, football has scored an outrageous own goal that only BP chief executive Tony Hayward will have applauded as the media spotlight passed, if only briefly, onto another unfortunate individual.

Rugby can learn a great deal from football - especially as it continues to labour in its professional infancy - but in one respect, at least, rugby can teach its sporting cousin a valuable lesson. Rugby may not have been the first to embrace TV technology to aid with game management but they were quick to realise the benefits and the fact that those pros certainly outweighed the cons.

The 'Television Match Official', as he is now known, made his international bow back in 2000 after being trialled on the domestic stage within the southern hemisphere's Super 12 competition. English referee Steve Lander was the first to call on a TMO to pass judgement on whether a try had been scored during New Zealand's rout of Tonga in Albany - and Kiwi Steve Walsh subsequently awarded a try to All Blacks captain Todd Blackadder.

England fans may remember a more contentious TMO decision the same summer during the Springboks' narrow 18-13 win in Pretoria. England fullback Tim Stimpson appeared to be tackled without the ball by South Africa's Andre Vos as he looked to get a try-scoring touch to a loose ball but the TMO ruled a knock on.

On that occasion the officials may have got it wrong but that was not the case in the 2007 Rugby World Cup Final when England's Mark Cueto saw a try ruled out by the TMO - funnily enough against the Springboks again. These examples show that the technology will not always provide a definitive answer and we must still rely on the interpretation of the images by a real person, and they are prone to the odd error, but in most cases TMO decisions provide the clarity that is sought and are controversy-free thanks to the superb tools available to broadcasters and the sport.

Some of the decisions are still hotly debated - and in some cases rightly so as there are still some dubious calls being made. But in the vast majority of instances, the input of the TMO is a welcome one and the delay - a few seconds at best and a few minutes at worst - is a small price to pay for the integrity of the sport. Original concerns about robbing the game of one of its key elements - continuity - have long since vanished and the International Rugby Board must be applauded for embracing technology all of those years ago and sticking with it as the marriage between the two worked through some difficult early years.

Sadly for football, the second World Cup on the trot is set to be remembered for all the wrong reasons - in 2006 it was Zinedine Zidane's shocking head-butting of Marco Materazzi whereas this time around the dark cloud of controversy stretches from Thierry Henry's handball in qualifying all the way to the officials' foul-up in Bloemfontein and Johannesburg.

Admittedly rugby has its issues - Bloodgate to name just one - but at least the IRB and the RFU talk a good game about addressing them. FIFA on the other hand appear happy to fly in the face of common sense on this issue and as a result will continue to be dogged by needless controversy until they join the 21st Century.