“And hero on hero, who at honour’s proud call, for freedom their lifeblood let fall.”
For the second match on the trot, Wales have been true to their passionate anthem, Land of My Fathers. From time to time in life, good fortune has found me on the pitch in Cardiff, where a choir of tens of thousands gave rousing voice to the inspirational hymn. Spine-tingling, always.
Rugby is the heartbeat of the Welsh nation and Steve Tandy’s team is determined to keep it pumping away. The administrators have managed to put the game in Wales on to life support, but that didn’t stop the players giving their all atthe Aviva Stadium last Friday, just as they did at home to Scotland in the previous match.
Their defensive effort in Dublin was extraordinary, yielding a total tackle count of 236. Alex Mann broke the individual Six Nations record with a staggering 32. In attack, Rhys Carre’s bullocking 25-metre run for his try will rightly be in the folklore of the Valleys for all of time.
Wales deserved better from the match officials, in both matches. Scotland’s late winning try followed a blatant illegal maul entry by their number eight, Matt Fagerson. He drove into the maul in front of the try scorer, George Turner, and contributed immensely to splitting open the Welsh defence. This happened bang in front of assistant Karl Dickson, who must have missed it completely. TMO Ian Tempest also remained silent and with referee Matthew Carley static and unsighted, the try was awarded. Talk about big moments.
Dickson was again involved on Friday, this time as referee. I imagine if Wales don’t see him again for aeons, it will be all too soon. When the dust settled after Jamie Osborne had touched down, we saw Welsh scrumhalf Tomos Williams was in the sinbin. His illegal interference didn’t have much effect in slowing Ireland’s attack and the try came moments later. There were questions, too, about a potential forward pass from Jacob Stockdale in the build-up to the try, but nothing was clear and obvious enough for the officials to call it.
So, a tough decision on Williams, but, more to the point, it was completely inconsistent with how the referee had dealt with several Irish infringements in the first half while well inside their own 22. His penalty-only warning was a benign sanction, with captain Caelan Doris undoubtedly grateful that Dickson decided against a yellow. Go compare, as the saying goes.
There was also lots of chat about Jack Conan’s try. My immediate reaction was that Rónan Kelleher, marginally in front of Conan, had blocked the defender. Dickson deemed the try should stand, but I am with those who say Kelleher’s action was not legal. During any 80 minutes of test rugby, the majority of the referee’s job is relatively straightforward. It’s only when the chips are really down that they’re called upon to sort out the difficult, the tight, the knife-edge issues. These are where the officials really earn their corn.
Murrayfield saw the Scots dismantling the Fabien Galthie project, handing a veritable thrashing to the “unbeatable” French.
Scotland’s Ben White (right) clashes with France’s Antoine Dupont during last Saturday’s thrilling Six Nations match at Murrayfield, which Scotland won. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire
We also learned that the supposedly infallible Antoine Dupont is, after all, fallible. Referee Angus Gardner was well positioned to judge, as forward, an absolutely nonsensical pass by the French captain deep in his own in-goal area. It was one of several unusual errors by Dupont. The experienced referee also correctly identified repeated infringements by France when defending and his warnings to Dupont were well timed.
However, Gardner did take at face value information from his TMO, Brett Cronan, that the French captain had not knocked the ball forward prior to the first French try. The replays then clearly contradicted the TMO. It didn’t make a jot of difference but it was still a poor call.
A sour note was struck post-match when video footage emerged of France’s Oscar Jegou appearing to gouge the eye of Ewan Ashman. Ed Kenny, the Irish citing commissioner, won’t have taken long to decide the La Rochelle player should face the stern music of rugby’s high court. Eye-gouging is a reprehensible, egregious offence, with guilty verdicts inevitably seeing offenders paying a very high price – and that’s how it must be.
In Rome, we saw a fascinating new production of the Italian Job. Directed by the excellent Gonzalo Quesada, the Azzurri carved out a famous victory. It was French referee Luc Ramos’s first Six Nations match and, believe me, the first one is never easy. If England point the finger at him for any aspect of this deserved defeat, they won’t get buy-in from me.
Maro Itoje (centre) is sent to the sinbin following an act of frustration during England’s Six Nations defeat to Italy in Rome. Photograph: Adam Davy/PA Wire
Far too often an English player was in the referee’s face. Perhaps a penalty towards the finish was harsh, but Maro Itoje was angry with the decision and that’s not on. The referee should have marched the captain back an extra 10 metres as he was full value for it. Ramos, though, did well to sinbin two Englishmen. First off was Sam Underhill, for a shoulder to the head of Danilo Fischetti. Next, Itoje departed – knocking the ball out of scrumhalf Alessandro Fusco’s hands was an offence of the particularly stupid variety.
With so many potential outcomes to consider, we are heading for a compelling, riveting finish to a wonderful championship. Bring it on and may the weather gods be kind.
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