Rugby:It's not often that Warren Gatland sees eye-to-eye with opposition coaches but the Welsh boss was in complete agreement with Declan Kidney in his assessment of the controversial winning score at the Millennium Stadium yesterday.
Mike Phillips scored the decisive try in the 50th minute of yesterday’s game, racing down the touchline to score after collecting a quick throw-in from Wales hooker Matthew Rees. But the score should clearly have been disallowed as touch judge Peter Allan failed to notice that Rees had used a different ball that the one kicked out by Jonathan Sexton.
Indeed, the disputed score breached three laws. The ball picked up by Rees had been handled by a ball boy and the series of violations was completed by the Wales hooker clearly stepping into play when throwing to Phillips.
Wales went on to win 19-13 and Kidney was left “extremely frustrated” by the decision to allow the score while Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll described it as “unforgivable”. And Gatland was able to sympathise with the Irish complaints, although he felt his side were due some good fortune on the officiating front.
“There were two very even teams and the game could have gone either way,” he said. “We made a terrible start and got back in the game, but I can understand Ireland being frustrated with the try that was allowed.
“It’s a decision that has gone our way, we have had some rough ones in the past that have gone against us and I am not complaining about it.
“If he (the referee) had gone to the TMO it would have taken a couple of seconds, he would have asked if it was the same ball and he would have said no and we would have had a lineout back from where it was taken from.
“We wouldn’t be talking about it now, but it doesn’t mean that we would not have still gone on and won the game. It doesn’t take the shine (off the win) for me. I don’t care, we won the game.”
Keith Earls has added his voice to the chorus of discontent describing the defeat as “sickening”.
“The try was controversial. It’s bad to lose, but when you lose like that, it’s sickening. It’s heart-breaking,” said Earls. “The rules state you can’t take a quick line-out with another ball.
“There were six points in the game and with the conversion, the try meant seven points, so it was a big factor in the result. We talked about it at the time, asking what happened. When we found out, it was sickening.”
While Kidney’s response was typically restrained — “We lost by six points, it was a seven-point decision, but look at what’s happened in Japan. That’s life isn’t it,” he said — an incensed O’Driscoll refused to take a diplomatic line.
“I didn’t see it myself but when half your team is saying it you take their word for it,” said O’Driscoll, whose third-minute touch down saw him equal Ian Smith’s championship try-scoring record of 24.
“I tried to relate that to Jonathan Kaplan and the touch judge. They were having none of it and it’s really frustrating for such an incident to have a huge bearing on the game.
“I did mention it to him a few minutes later after I had seen it on the TV and I told him that it was a massive momentum swinger and that it had a huge bearing on the game, but he just shrugged that off.
“If I was wrong I would personally be embarrassed, especially if you have the services there to cover all bases. Games hang in the balance on decisions. Everyone is human and wrong calls are made sometimes, but some are unforgivable.”
The services O’Driscoll was referring to were those of the television match official, though in this instance protocol dictates Geoff Warren was powerless to help. The video referee can only assist in questions concerning the act of scoring, whereas the unlawful line-out took place near the halfway line.
No retrospective action can be taken by the International Rugby Board, but the incident may prompt a rethink in the way the TMO is used. Phillips’ intervention, and Allan’s lack of it, ensured the try dominated discussion of a low-quality encounter Ireland could have snatched at the death.
In the final play of the game, a one-man overlap on the left was ignored by substitute Paddy Wallace, who stepped inside instead of feeding Earls. While Earls publicly supported his team-mate’s decision, his exasperation was palpable.
“It was very frustrating that the ball didn’t come to me. It was Paddy Wallace who took the step inside,” he said. “Paddy is an experienced man. He made his decision and I have to back him up.
“But I think that if the ball had come to me I’d have snuck in at the corner. Paddy didn’t think so and went for it, all you can do his back him up.”
The finger of blame also hovered over Kidney, whose decision to replace Ronan O’Gara with Jonathan Sexton in the 50th minute was highly questionable. O’Gara, who surpassed the 1,000 Test points milestone in the game, was performing reasonably and to introduce a less experienced player in such a key position when the match was so finely balanced was a major call.
Surely as surprised as anyone by his unexpected introduction, Sexton’s first act was to slice a kick straight into touch for the line-out that led to Phillips’ try. The Leinster half-back then missed the simplest of penalties, giving the substitution the appearance of a hospital pass from Kidney.
Who Kidney chooses to fill the number 10 jersey for their tournament finale against England next Saturday is anyone’s guess, but the match has now taken on significance beyond the usual rivalry.
Defeat at the Aviva Stadium will see Ireland equal their worst Six Nations performance alongside 2008, the aftermath of which saw Eddie O’Sullivan removed as coach. With only five games left until the World Cup to repair the damage done by a demoralising championship, the England game is of paramount importance.
“People who say we have no chance against England have to think again,” said O’Driscoll. “These people have obviously never seen an Ireland-England game and don’t know what it means to the Irish public and the Irish team. There’s plenty of rugby left in this side.”
