Saturday was superb, utterly. Who on earth expected that? Certainly very few, if any.
It’s hardly too much of a stretch to say that two thundering, enthralling matches have saved this year’s championship. Although Ireland have been winning with little bother, it’s unsatisfactory stuff overall when no one else is competitive. Unexpectedly, the coming weekend is now full of exciting possibilities, and there are plenty of permutations as teams fight for the highest ranking possible.
Both Italy and England really shook things up, fully deserving their sweet victories. “Rugby teaches you not only how to win well, but also how to lose well.” Those wise words were uttered long ago by Tony O’Reilly, formerly of Ireland and the Lions. Andy Farrell gave us his own similar version in a generous, magnanimous post-match interview.
Farrell’s opposite number Steve Borthwick has been taking a roasting from all quarters recently. But, no doubt sticking resolutely to Winston Churchill’s famous line “if you’re going through hell, keep going,” the England coach might just have come out the other side.
Tadhg Furlong’s reaction was as if he’d been hit by an Exocet missile, and perhaps that is what happened
There was a heck of a lot of refereeing, providing plenty for discussion. Nika Amashukeli offers a lot, and his communication with the players is courteous and succinct. He came out of this game with his growing reputation intact. Thankfully, referee error did not affect the result.
Earlier in the day, the Australian referee in Rome, Angus Gardner, did not seem too interested in reducing his verbal input. He actually did not referee badly at all, but needs to realise that nobody has paid to listen to him talk so much. The contrast with Amashukeli could not have been sharper.
Much of the Twickenham post-match debate will centre around happenings at try-time. England had a try chalked off after the officials reviewed a potential knock-on by George Furbank, moments before Ollie Lawrence dotted down under the posts; the ball had indeed gone clearly forward, although it was a slight touch.
Even slighter was the ball grazing Jamison Gibson-Park’s hand after Maro Itoje had dislodged it from his grasp, with the try line beckoning for Hugo Keenan. It was the merest knock-on, barely discernible. It was whistled late, so I’m assuming it was called by one of the other officials. Someone had the eyes of an eagle, or maybe he just got extremely lucky in being correct. At first sight, it looked much more like a clear rip backwards by Itoje, in which case it would have been play on.
There was also more than a suspicion of a foot in touch after Furbank had scored. Close inspection shows the ball leaving Tommy Freeman’s hand, just as his foot hits the white line; whichever came first is really hard to say, but it is not crystal clear, as many of us had initially thought. In any case, because play had continued through more than two phases before the try was scored, it wasn’t possible to review.
Angus Gardner actually did not referee badly at all, but needs to realise that nobody has paid to listen to him talk so much
That raises a serious question for the TMO protocol itself. When the ball is “in touch,” it is deemed out of play, “dead”, and everything which happens afterwards should surely be null and void, because play has never been restarted properly. The protocol may well need some tweaking here.
Then there was Ben Earl’s try, coming after sustained English pressure. In the build-up, Henry Slade was tackled and lost the ball. He was still on the ground when he played it next, flipping it up to continue the move. That strictly speaking is a penalty as Slade had not regained his feet. Normally, it’s a good law, but in this circumstance it doesn’t fit the bill, and Amashukeli played on. Whether the ref was aware of it or not, I can’t say.
There’s a lot of chat about Tadgh Furlong being hammered out of a ruck. His reaction was as if he’d been hit by an Exocet missile, and perhaps that is what happened. But he was promptly up and about, did not need a HIA, and no Irish player complained. Nor did the busy TMO intervene. Of course, none of those is a reason to mitigate foul play, but it’s not clear enough for me that this was a hard-shoulder to the head by Ellis Genge.
The pace of blitz defending caused some problems for Amashukeli’s assistants. It’s easy to be fooled by the lightening speed of defensive lines, but offsides, like all other decisions, cannot be guesstimates or assumptions. The referee has no option but to act on the information which he gets, so these calls must be spot on. On the day, some were not.
