All it would have taken was the TMO to ask for the referee to check, the on field decision was a try, meaning he would need clear and obvious proof that the try should not be awarded. Clearly, and obviously the infringement can be seen from several angles from broadcast, so why didn’t the TMO do anything?
Within the laws of rugby, a maul, law 16, consists of a ball carrier and at least one player from each team, bound together and on their feet.
You tend to see them form after a line-out set piece, with forwards easily placed to put in a strong driving effort, but they can also form anywhere in open play.
This weekend gone, Wales hosted Scotland. Its the third round of the Six Nations Championship, Wales haven’t won a Six Nations fixture since Italy in March of 2023, almost three years ago. Scotland had just come off of an emphatic win against England at Murrayfield to reclaim the Calcutta cup.
Despite Wales being thoroughly dismantled by England and then France in their opening two fixtures, they came out swinging against the travelling Scots. Wales found themselves ahead at half time, something that we hadn’t seen since their first half performance last year against Ireland – which was quickly followed by a lacklustre second half.
Scotland, despite being heavy favourites were marred by their own curse, in the four previous years, Scotland had lost their game that followed the Calcutta cup. However, these runs and streaks are not what I want to talk about.
I appreciate that there will likely never be a perfect game for officiating, across any sport – and as we have seen with the recent Curling drama, even when their is clear visual evidence, illegal actions aren’t punished.
However, in a sport in which there is an increasing level of scrutiny wielded by the TMO – television match official – infringements that are clearly visible to broadcast viewers, should also surely be picked up by the TMO. They have the same angles! And slow-mo! And replays!
Wales were leading with 5 minutes to go, it was close, but they were ahead after a strong resurgence from the Scots in the second half and Wales’ playmaker Sam Costelow getting injured. Scotland had won themselves a line out 6 metres away from a winning score, Wales did not compete, as in hopes to gain an upper hand in defending the maul.
The maul formed and started to push Wales back, with the ball quickly moving into the hands of Scotland’s replacement Hooker, George Turner. Referee Mathew Carley noted the maul was halted, and as per law 16.15, Scotland had 5 seconds to get it moving again. Scotland 8, Matt Fagerson took upon himself to restart the engine and joined the maul.
He joined the maul, on the right hand side, getting stuck right in and created the gap which Turner was able to move through to score the winner.
This would be okay, if it wasn’t for law 16.7b. which states that when a player enters the maul they need to bind on to the ‘hindmost’ player. Watching the replay, some have said that Fagerson briefly puts his arm around Turner before moving forward, but even if he did, this is also an illegal action. Players are not allowed to unbind or ‘slide’ in a maul and rebind somewhere else without putting themselves in an onside position again – law 16.6.
This infringement should have won Wales a much needed penalty – the sanction for either Infringement you wish to choose. While Scotland had all the momentum, and they very well may have score again in another moment, we don’t know that, and unfortunately never will, because they were saved by the TMO with an illegal score.
It’s not just me who thinks this decision was incorrect. Ex players and referees have come forward to point out the infringement, most notable of these is ex and most acclaimed referee, Nigel Owens. While he may be welsh, he is undoubtedly a bastion of rugby law and officiating.
There are many decisions which receive controversial levels of coverage – whether it be ignored or over scrutinised. In a match defining moment, you would think that technical officials would take extra care to make sure that there were no infringements leading up to the defining score.
– and no, Scotland hadn’t been given advantage.
There were controversial calls throughout the game. With both sides receiving unfair decisions, but with 4 of these decisions falling to Scotland, and 2 to Wales. How do we better manage the laws of the game. The game will always evolve, but if there’s a rule, surely it should be followed, its there for a reason.
I thought TMO was there for a reason too…
£100 says this person is Welsh