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.<\/p>\n
The series-deciding clash fell the Lions\u2019 way when Hugo Keenan danced his way over the try line to score the match-winning try.<\/p>\n
However, Jac Morgan\u2019s 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<\/a> boss Andy Farrell believed that it was fair and legal.<\/p>\n Jac Morgan\u2019s clear-out<\/p>\n Speaking on the Rugby Unity podcast with David Pembroke and McKenzie, Jones<\/a> made his view crystal clear as he agreed with Farrell.<\/p>\n \u201cIf he [referee Andrea Piardi<\/a>] hadn\u2019t allowed that try, then basically, the cleanout would be out of the game in rugby,\u201d said the Japan head coach.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause he couldn\u2019t do anything more legal than he did. The argument is that he hit his head. Yes, we know that. But he couldn\u2019t do anything more than that.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you don\u2019t allow that sort of cleanout, we might as well forget about rucks and have \u2018play-the-balls\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n World Rugby won\u2019t sanction Joe Schmidt\u2019s ref-bashing as bigwig addresses controversial clearout before Lions\u2019 match-winner<\/a><\/p>\n Where Piardi went wrong<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n That was in the 28th minute when Wallabies scrum-half Jake Gordon sliced through the Lions\u2019 defence, running through a gap created by the official getting prop Andrew Porter\u2019s way.<\/p>\n \u201cI do think he got his positioning wrong\u00a0on the Jake Gordon try,\u201d Jones explained.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have got to be careful with the referee being in the defence line in that situation.<\/p>\n \u201cHe should be behind the ruck there, and I hope he\u2019s coached on that in the future because it\u2019s not a good position to be in; it definitely provided obstruction for the nine to go through.\u201d<\/p>\n Ex-ref boss\u2019 \u2018you can\u2019t have it both ways\u2019 argument after British and Irish Lions controversy<\/a><\/p>\n