Caelan Doris<\/a> to raise matters with the referee. Instead, they concentrated on going about their business, and were much the better for it. England were different, constantly yapping at Brousset and they correctly, if only eventually, saw a penalty advanced 10m.<\/p>\nSurely, it\u2019s time for World Rugby\u2019s chair, Australian Brett Robinson, to recognise that it\u2019s time to call a halt to the law tinkerers. Their ideas are based only on what they imagine the game will become, and which we don\u2019t want in any case. It was a wondrous match \u2013 and that\u2019s the story of the Six Nations to date.<\/p>\n
Full of contests, both individual and collective, and full of running rugby; these are all ingredients which make rugby union a great game. If Robinson isn\u2019t minded to get involved, there must be enough unions who will speak out \u2013 staying silent is not an option. <\/p>\n
Ireland conceded five penalties at the scrum, and still that made no difference. The English front row is a three-headed beast. But, with the pace Ireland put on the ball, they didn\u2019t seem to be much use elsewhere. Steve Borthwick now finds himself firmly on the horns of a very different beast, a horrible dilemma. The chariot has lost more than its wheels, and selection-wise the coach has to decide whether to stick or twist.<\/p>\n
![\"Assistant](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2UGFJESAYREGLHOC3L6QSCHZXM.jpg\")
Assistant referee Pierre Brousset checks in with referee Andrea Piardi after he picked up a injury on Saturday. Photograph: Billy Stickland\/Inpho <\/p>\n
Brousset, of course, was not meant to be the referee. He will have been well prepared, of course, but never really thinking that the unfortunate Andrea Piardi would not be able to continue after just 30 minutes. It\u2019s a completely different mindset for an assistant, so credit where it is due for a seamless changeover, and Brousset performed well.<\/p>\n
As had Piardi for his short tenure, apart from what looked an incorrect call against Tommy O\u2019Brien for competing in the air, as Jamison Gibson-Park sprinted towards the line. Far wiser to let the score happen, then review. <\/p>\n
If England can find a reason to transfer any blame to the match officials, they are unlikely to find any takers. From the messages which have pinged on my phone their supporters have been generous in their congratulations. Whereas what they have said about the England team and coach is not printable. <\/p>\n
In Lille, France continued on their seemingly inexorable road to a Grand Slam. Ireland\u2019s Andrew Brace was in charge, and it was good to see him back from a troubling injury. The degree of difficulty wasn\u2019t high, but he should consider sticking to the official language of rugby, English.<\/p>\n
![\"Irish](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/BNUM655RCNBNDNQEWHUVZIMY6M.jpg\")
Irish referee Andrew Brace (left) oversees a scrum during the Six Nations fixture between France and Italy at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, northern France, on Sunday. Photograph: Sameer al-Doumy\/AFP via Getty <\/p>\n
A couple of words here or there, in French or Italian, is really of no use if you can\u2019t string a few sentences together. French and Italian officials use English, the difference being that they are admirably fluent.<\/p>\n
The scrums were awful, no blame to the ref here. However, a change in tone from Brace might have been a good idea \u2013 there\u2019s nothing wrong with showing controlled annoyance. \u201cNo messing now\u201d is hardly going to do the trick. Messages need to be a lot stronger. <\/p>\n
Italy\u2019s Louis Lynagh was rightly binned for a deliberate knock-on as the ball was on its way to France winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey. Having reviewed the replays Brace decided that there was enough Italian cover to rule out a penalty try, as it was not definitively a try. <\/p>\n
That, simply, is not correct, the law does not require \u201cdefinitively\u201d. It\u2019s all about \u201cprobability,\u201d a very different measure, which does not mean certainty. <\/p>\n
The so-called cover most probably wouldn\u2019t have laid a hand on Bielle-Biarrey who might well be the fastest man in world rugby. The conclusion to this episode should have been a penalty try. Earlier, Bielle-Biarrey had made Italian speedster Ange Capuozzo look slow \u2013 no mean feat \u2013 when scoring France\u2019s opening try.<\/p>\n
![\"Ireland's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/TOAEKBO73JAFFNEOFTCIJB43FU.jpg\")
Ireland’s Daniel Ryan runs in to score a try against England during the under-20s Six Nations match in Bath last Friday. Photograph: Dan Sheridan\/Inpho <\/p>\n
On Friday evening, the Ireland Under-20s provided a great start to the weekend with a win over their English counterparts in Bath. Tom Wood was again to the fore; he\u2019s a chip, maybe a faster one, off the old block, who actually was no slouch himself. There was something heart-warming about the natural, family celebration post match, with parents Keith and Nicola. <\/p>\n
However, there was absolutely nothing heart-warming about a late, dangerous, knees-first slide into try scorer Dan Ryan. There were four match officials in attendance and none, repeat none, saw anything wrong. <\/p>\n
The lack of a call here was not good enough, and actually unacceptable. It deserved yellow, and play should have restarted with a penalty to Ireland.<\/p>\n
Assuming match officials have a priority list, this type of dangerous play must be added to it. There is no reason to wait for a serious injury before taking punitive action.<\/p>\n
Much better is needed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIf the greatest writer of the written word had written that story, nobody would have believed it.\u201d Magical…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[28581,59241,1452,61,60,1449,132479,75784,15551,112,92456],"class_list":{"0":"post-313694","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-caelan-doris","9":"tag-england-rugby","10":"tag-france-rugby","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-ireland-rugby","14":"tag-italy-rugby","15":"tag-scotland-rugby","16":"tag-six-nations","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-wales-rugby"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}