Former Wallabies bosses Eddie Jones and Ewen McKenzie have weighed in on crucial officiating calls in the second British and Irish Lions Test in Melbourne.
The series-deciding clash fell the Lions’ way when Hugo Keenan danced his way over the try line to score the match-winning try.
However, Jac Morgan’s clear-out on Carlo Tizzano in the build-up to the score has dominated the discussion in the aftermath, with Joe Schmidt deeming that it was dangerous, while Lions boss Andy Farrell believed that it was fair and legal.
Jac Morgan’s clear-out
Speaking on the Rugby Unity podcast with David Pembroke and McKenzie, Jones made his view crystal clear as he agreed with Farrell.
“If he [referee Andrea Piardi] hadn’t allowed that try, then basically, the cleanout would be out of the game in rugby,” said the Japan head coach.
“Because he couldn’t do anything more legal than he did. The argument is that he hit his head. Yes, we know that. But he couldn’t do anything more than that.
“If you don’t allow that sort of cleanout, we might as well forget about rucks and have ‘play-the-balls’.”
Where Piardi went wrong
Overall, Jones felt that the Italian referee did a good job, but he did pinpoint a moment in the game where he was in the wrong.
That was in the 28th minute when Wallabies scrum-half Jake Gordon sliced through the Lions’ defence, running through a gap created by the official getting prop Andrew Porter’s way.
“I do think he got his positioning wrong on the Jake Gordon try,” Jones explained.
“They have got to be careful with the referee being in the defence line in that situation.
“He should be behind the ruck there, and I hope he’s coached on that in the future because it’s not a good position to be in; it definitely provided obstruction for the nine to go through.”
Ex-ref boss’ ‘you can’t have it both ways’ argument after British and Irish Lions controversy
Fellow former Wallabies coach McKenzie agreed with Jones, stating that had that occurred in a rugby league match, there is no way it would have stood.
“100%, I agree on that and in rugby league, that wouldn’t have been a try,” he stated.
“Porter didn’t get a chance to make a tackle, and no one’s talked about that. It was earlier in the game.
“Sometimes tries to look really easy, and sometimes there’s a reason for that. You look back at that and it looked too easy given the quality of the Lions’ defence – no one even talked about it.
There was no review of it or whatever. That’s something for him [Piardi] to learn in that game. But I thought he did a good job.
“He’s obviously selected for a reason. The guys in the refereeing fraternity picked him for a reason, and I thought he managed the game pretty well.
“There was a lot going on, a lot went Australia’s way. Don’t forget that in that whole first half, Australia had all the ball, getting all the penalties, then he followed through with the yellow card for multiple ill-disciplined efforts.
“I was more concerned about the scrum because there was a scrum dominance established in the second half, and he didn’t follow through with that.”
READ MORE: Loose Pass: Maro Itoje’s ‘mental resolve’ overshadowed by ‘moany’ adolescent behaviour