Owen Doyle believes that Wales were hard done by in the losses to Scotland and Ireland in the Six Nations.<\/p>\n
The former director of referees at the IRFU has urged fans to \u2018remove the green-tinted glasses\u2019 and admit that the officiating team that oversaw the round four clash in Dublin favoured the hosts.<\/p>\n
He believes that Steve Tandy\u2019s men have reason to feel aggrieved by refereeing inconsistencies after a heroic defeat to the Irish<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ireland enjoyed the lion\u2019s share of possession during the match with Wales<\/a>, making well over 200 tackles, with flanker Alex Mann leading the charge with a personal tally of over 30.<\/p>\n Wales were hard done by<\/p>\n Ultimately, it was not enough as they succumbed to their 13th successive defeat in the Six Nations<\/a> and according to Doyle<\/a>, without any help from the officials.<\/p>\n \u201cWales deserved better from the match officials, in both matches,\u201d Doyle wrote in his Irish Times<\/a> column, referencing the loss to Scotland and Ireland.<\/p>\n \u201cScotland\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n The former international referee did not hold back in his criticism of English official Dickson, who was in charge of the Friday night fixture in Dublin.<\/p>\n \u201cI imagine if Wales don\u2019t see him again for aeons, it will be all too soon,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the dust settled after Jamie Osborne had touched down, we saw Welsh scrumhalf Tomos Williams was in the sinbin. His illegal interference didn\u2019t have much effect in slowing\u00a0Ireland\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, 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.<\/p>\n Six Nations Team of the Week: Italian \u2018superstar\u2019 our Player of the Round while Finn Russell and record-breaking Wales forward hailed<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThere was also lots of chat about Jack Conan\u2019s try. My immediate reaction was that R\u00f3nan Kelleher, marginally in front of Conan, had blocked the defender. Dickson deemed the try should stand, but I am with those who say Kelleher\u2019s action was not legal.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring any 80 minutes of test rugby, the majority of the referee\u2019s job is relatively straightforward. It\u2019s only when the chips are really down that they\u2019re called upon to sort out the difficult, the tight, the knife-edge issues. These are where the officials really earn their corn.\u201d<\/p>\n