IT’S A PITY that such a brilliant game of rugby had to involve a TMO review of a clear out right at the death before the outcome of the match could be confirmed.
The Lions had already started celebrating wildly when Hugo Keenan dotted down, only for TMO Eric Gauzins to flag a potentially illegal clearout by Lions flanker Jac Morgan on Australia’s Carlo Tizzano just before the score.
In the end, Piardi and co. decided that Morgan hadn’t committed foul play and the try stood.
So the Lions’ celebrations kicked off in earnest. But the decision left Wallabies boss Joe Schmidt fuming.
“I think everyone can make their own decision on that,” said Schmidt after his side’s 29-26 defeat.
“You just have to read Law 9.20 and you just have to listen to the description from the referee and then watch the vision when two players are described as arriving at the same time. Just watch the footage.”
Schmidt was asked how match officials can get such big decisions wrong, in his view.
“Because they are human,” said Schmidt. “Players make errors. Match officials make errors.
“Our perspective is we felt it was a decision that doesn’t really live up to the big player safety push that they are talking about. You cannot hit someone above the levels of the shoulders and there’s no bind with the left arm, his hand is on the ground. That’s what we have seen. We have watched a number of replays from different angles, so it is what it is. We just have to accept it.”
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Schmidt said he believed the sheer gravity of the moment had played into a decision that he felt was incorrect.
The Lions, of course, had a very different view of the clear out by Morgan.
“I thought it was a brilliant clear out,” said Lions head coach Andy Farrell.
“It depends which side of the fence you come from. I can understand people’s opinions. I thought Jac was brilliant when he came on and so were the rest of the bench.”
Try-scorer Keenan was of the same view.
“To be honest, once I saw the clearout, I was pretty confident,” said Keenan.
“I don’t think there was any foul play in it and I was confident that the refs would make the right call.”
And Lions out-half Finn Russell was another Lions who felt it was good play from Morgan.
“I was just outside the ruck and saw the great clearout that it was,” said Russell. “I think when Tizzano goes down holding his head, it was obviously going to be questioned but I think when you saw it back it was just a textbook clearout and a brilliant clearout from Jac.
“Tizzano is over the ball, which is good play from him but I think Jac just cleared him out really well. It’s almost the aggression that he cleared him out with that’s what the question mark was almost, which should be a question mark in rugby.
“He obviously holds his head and tried to get a penalty from it, but nah I think it was a brilliant clearout.”
Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
Wallabies boss Schmidt also questioned Dan Sheehan’s first-half try.
The Lions hooker tapped a five-metre penalty and rather than carrying the ball low to the ground, he dove right over the top of James Slipper and Dave Porecki to score.
“I think one of the things is that World Rugby are trying to make sure that we are tackling lower and so we had two tacklers going in to tackle low and he dived and scored,” said Schmidt.
“I can see according to the law how can that just be diving and scoring. It is illegal to jump the tackle, but he dived over.
“What it now challenges World Rugby to do is that if we have two guys going in low and a guy dives over that, he is pretty much headfirst, so what do we do to stop him scoring apart from stopping his head? There’s not much else you can do.
“I feel for the players because they get backed into a corner around head contact and it is such a taboo subject and we’re trying to make the game safer.
“In contrast, you have got Dan diving over to score and you have got in all the laws, it is head or neck contact. You have got a contrast there that I guess we will look back at and ask some questions on.”
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Schmidt slams late decision but Farrell says it was 'brilliant clearout'
IT’S A PITY that such a brilliant game of rugby had to involve a TMO review of a clear out right at the death before the outcome of the match could be confirmed.
The Lions had already started celebrating wildly when Hugo Keenan dotted down, only for TMO Eric Gauzins to flag a potentially illegal clearout by Lions flanker Jac Morgan on Australia’s Carlo Tizzano just before the score.
In the end, Piardi and co. decided that Morgan hadn’t committed foul play and the try stood.
So the Lions’ celebrations kicked off in earnest. But the decision left Wallabies boss Joe Schmidt fuming.
“I think everyone can make their own decision on that,” said Schmidt after his side’s 29-26 defeat.
“You just have to read Law 9.20 and you just have to listen to the description from the referee and then watch the vision when two players are described as arriving at the same time. Just watch the footage.”
Schmidt was asked how match officials can get such big decisions wrong, in his view.
“Because they are human,” said Schmidt. “Players make errors. Match officials make errors.
“Our perspective is we felt it was a decision that doesn’t really live up to the big player safety push that they are talking about. You cannot hit someone above the levels of the shoulders and there’s no bind with the left arm, his hand is on the ground. That’s what we have seen. We have watched a number of replays from different angles, so it is what it is. We just have to accept it.”
Schmidt said he believed the sheer gravity of the moment had played into a decision that he felt was incorrect.
The Lions, of course, had a very different view of the clear out by Morgan.
“I thought it was a brilliant clear out,” said Lions head coach Andy Farrell.
“It depends which side of the fence you come from. I can understand people’s opinions. I thought Jac was brilliant when he came on and so were the rest of the bench.”
Try-scorer Keenan was of the same view.
“To be honest, once I saw the clearout, I was pretty confident,” said Keenan.
“I don’t think there was any foul play in it and I was confident that the refs would make the right call.”
And Lions out-half Finn Russell was another Lions who felt it was good play from Morgan.
“I was just outside the ruck and saw the great clearout that it was,” said Russell. “I think when Tizzano goes down holding his head, it was obviously going to be questioned but I think when you saw it back it was just a textbook clearout and a brilliant clearout from Jac.
“Tizzano is over the ball, which is good play from him but I think Jac just cleared him out really well. It’s almost the aggression that he cleared him out with that’s what the question mark was almost, which should be a question mark in rugby.
“He obviously holds his head and tried to get a penalty from it, but nah I think it was a brilliant clearout.”
Wallabies boss Schmidt also questioned Dan Sheehan’s first-half try.
The Lions hooker tapped a five-metre penalty and rather than carrying the ball low to the ground, he dove right over the top of James Slipper and Dave Porecki to score.
“I think one of the things is that World Rugby are trying to make sure that we are tackling lower and so we had two tacklers going in to tackle low and he dived and scored,” said Schmidt.
“I can see according to the law how can that just be diving and scoring. It is illegal to jump the tackle, but he dived over.
“What it now challenges World Rugby to do is that if we have two guys going in low and a guy dives over that, he is pretty much headfirst, so what do we do to stop him scoring apart from stopping his head? There’s not much else you can do.
“I feel for the players because they get backed into a corner around head contact and it is such a taboo subject and we’re trying to make the game safer.
“In contrast, you have got Dan diving over to score and you have got in all the laws, it is head or neck contact. You have got a contrast there that I guess we will look back at and ask some questions on.”
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