Wales came so close to ending their winless run in the Six Nations but were narrowly beaten by Scotland in Cardiff
The match-winning moment has sparked controversy
Wales came so close to ending their dismal Six Nations losing run as they were narrowly beaten 23-26 by Scotland at the Principality Stadium on Saturday.
The home side made a significant step in the right direction with their best performance under head coach Steve Tandy to date, with tries from Rhys Carre and Josh Adams seeing them go into half-time 17-5 ahead. But a Scottish fightback saw Wales fall to yet another defeat in heartbreaking circumstances, with Scotland edging into the lead for the first time in the 75th minute to seal victory.
After a performance that gave fans some much-needed hope that better times lie ahead for this Welsh side, it was a brutal way for the hosts to lose, with Tandy admitting at the full-time whistle that the result was “bitterly disappointing”.
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To make the pill even harder to swallow for Welsh fans, Scotland’s match-winning try five minutes from time has been the subject of much controversy in the aftermath of the game, with it suggested that the decisive score should not have been allowed to stand.
It was replacement hooker George Turner who bundled over the line to ultimately seal victory for his side, as a Scottish maul off the back of a lineout saw the visiting pack overpower Wales from the five-metre line.
Turner bursts over from behind number eight Matt Fagerson, with the Scottish back-rower driving back Wales’ Archie Griffin to open up a gap for his team-mate to dive through.
However, closer inspection of the move suggests that Fagerson joined the maul illegally by joining in front of ball carrier Turner, before taking Griffin out of the game and blocking him from making a potential try-saving intervention.
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While it was missed by referee Matthew Carley, who was on the opposite side of the maul, it was also not flagged by the assistant on the near touchline, nor by the TMO.
Under World Rugby law 16.7b, players joining a maul must do so from an onside position and by binding on to the hindmost player in the maul, with failing to do so seeing a penalty awarded to the opposing team.
Unhappy fans have compared Fagerson’s actions to “playing NFL”, with others saying Wales were “ripped off” by the move not being penalised and the try being allowed to stand.
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TV presenter Nick Knowles was among those to “absolutely” agree that Tandy’s side had been hard done by in that moment, as he took to X to write: “No 8 [Fagerson] clearly joining in front of ball carrier and drives the maul around to clear a path. Bad Littje (sic) as that from the linesman on this side and TMO – ref unsighted.”
Refereeing legend Nigel Owens also suggested that Fagerson should have been penalised, as he responded “Yes, I agree” to a post on X which read: “For Scotland’s maul try Matt Fagerson joined in front but wasn’t penalised. I’m sure this was refereed more strictly some years ago but not so much now.”
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An argument has been made to suggest that Fagerson did in fact briefly bind on to Turner, before moving forwards in the maul and driving Griffin backwards.
However, this is also an illegal move, with players not allowed to unbind or use a sliding bind to ‘swim’ around the outside of the maul. If Fagerson changed his bind, he would no longer be part of the maul and would have to re-enter from an onside position, making his actions in this case illegal either way.
While it ultimately proved to be the match-winning moment, Turner’s try was not the only decision that raised eyebrows in Cardiff on Saturday, with question marks also surrounding the penalty reversal against Tomos Williams for a ‘croc roll’ minutes earlier, as well as the circumstances surrounding Darcy Graham’s bizarre try straight from the restart.
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