Wales First Try - Fair or not?

[Mellie]

There has been a lot of discussion in the media about the unfairness of Josh Adam's try and the decision by Pascal Gauzerre. There are a number of perspectives that have not been raised though.

Wales did not indicate they would kick for goal so nobody should have switched off. At the time I assumed Wales were kicking for goal since the England players formed a huddle and water carriers came on. At no time did Farrell enquire about the goal kick or when time was back on.

If the ref had allowed water carriers to come on then he had a duty to get them off before restarting play. But I think they came on uninvited under an assumption of a kick at goal. I think the England team assumed that too.

Since the ref had called time off after awarding the penalty it denied Wales a chance to profit for a quick penalty.  To be fair why should an offending team benefit from an offence? Normally it is acceptable to take quick penalties to take advantage of a disorganised defence and Dan Robson is often praised for this.

Dan Biggar was very canny for realising England had switched off. He could be heard clearly over the ref mic asking to be told when time was back on. I think this put a bit of pressure on the ref to do so.

To be fair to England Gauzerre should have turned round and told them that he was putting time back on. But they were away with the fairies and would have received a distinct advantage if he had delayed play until they had fully lined up their defence. It was up to England to be more aware.

The Welsh execution was superb and demonstrated clear thinking, unlike England.

Farrell had a point when speaking to the ref but he and his side had not endeared themselves with the ref who was clearly getting annoyed by their constant infringing. He should probably have just said on awarding the penalty 'too many penalties, next one goes to the bin' instead of 'talk to your team'. That way play could have restarted immediately.

For the number of penalties conceded England were fortunate not to receive a yellow card. Itoje most of all for his 5 individual indiscretions.

[Tervueren]

In today's Telegraph about the two tries "Joël Jutge, World Rugby’s Head of Match Officials, says Pascal Gauzere has acknowledged to him that he got both contentious first-half incidents wrong in Saturday’s Six Nations clash between Wales and England."

Also on RugbyPass https://www.rugbypass.com/news/head-of-referees-says-gauzere-has-admitted-he-got-big-calls-wrong-in-wales-defeat-of-england/

[Rossm]

England switched off for Wales' first try. They and their captain just assumed that Wales would go for the posts. Farrell could have inquired of the ref if Wales had opted for the posts but he didn't. It is not for the ref to dispel that assumption. That is a captaincy failure and you all know what happens when you assume.............. To me it was perfectly fair but infuriating if you are English.

[Heathen]

The horse has bolted. Now irrelevant. The game is over. Result stands.

The only thing that might come out of it is that Gauzeres get stood down from the WR panel.

[Shugs]

It was a terrible piece of refereeing for me. Farrell is obviously addressing the team after his chat with Gauzerre. Referee calls time on knowing that and doesn't have the guts to admit his mistake.

[Vespula Vulgaris]

I agree. England were only in a huddle because the ref had told Farrell to go and talk to his team. He then let Wales re-start play without letting Farrell finish doing what he had specifically been instructed to do.

[Mellie]

I'm not saying the ref didn't make a mistake but that England were negligent and Wales were smart.

[Rossm]

I'm not saying the ref didn't make a mistake but that England were negligent and Wales were smart.

I agree 100%.

[MarleyWasp]

For me, there are three questions:
1) Should the try have stood?
2) Was the Ref correct to call time on?
3) Did Farrell screw up by calling the England squad into a huddle?

To the first question, Wales hadn't said that they were going for goal, the kicking tee wasn't on the pitch, time was called on, the ball was kicked from the mark, Josh Adams was onside and the grounding was good. Therefore there were no grounds to disallow the try.

With regards to calling time on, I think this happens more that we realise in this situation. Does the defensive line need to be set for kicks to the corner? I think the ref called time on expecting Wales to kick to the corner and was caught off guard, but as time was on, couldn't disallow the try. I expect a World Rugby directive to be released this week about when time on should be called to prevent this in future.

With regards to the third question, in my view, you should never switch off and go into a huddle when defending in your 22. I can't recall Dallaglio ever doing that. When a ref told him to speak to his players he would shout at them but leave them in the defensive line.

I do wonder how much of Farrell's reaction was down to how Eddie runs the England set up. I can't imagine him or Ford ever doing what Biggar did because Jones has them so regimented that they'd be dropped if they did regardless of the outcome (think Cipriani and May's try in the third test v South Africa in 2018).

In all honesty I've never understood why more sides don't do what Wales did if they have a chance. Had Jacob done the same thing and set up a match winning try on Saturday for Josh, I'd have been thrilled. Nothing wrong with being sneaky.

[wasps]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Farrell called everyone in with the aim of slowing the game down a bit and disrupting Wales while they were in an attacking position.

The referee had told him to speak to his players. Normally that's little more than a look around the pitch, but I think Farrell was trying to be clever by calling everyone in.
It seemed like a safe way to buy a minute or 2 to compose themselves.

No one could have considered that the ref would allow play to restart before the team has reset following the directive from him.



I think the try should have been awarded because it was legal
But I also think the ref screwed it up.
Farrell also takes some blame because sometimes when you're trying to be too clever it'll come back and bite you

[Bloke in North Dorset]

I'm not saying the ref didn't make a mistake but that England were negligent and Wales were smart.

+1

If you look at the incident in the camera shot from behind Biggar you can see England's' left side defence all getting quickly in to place, Daly was where he should be. The rights side were dawdling and it wasn't until the ref blew that Ford looked over his shoulder and started to get a move on, far too late.

I also think its time for the captaincy to be given to someone else, probably in the pack. I say this as a Yorkshireman, but Farrell's accent and tone of voice is obviously winding up referees and added to the fact that he's so far away he has to go running after them to make a point, that never looks good.

[Vespula Vulgaris]

Daly was where he should be.

First time for everything...

[13thWarrior]

Very surprised at the number of people saying England are at fault here. The ref specifically asks Farrell to talk to his players about the penalties, and even puts time off to do so. This is a clear indication he wants it done properly, not shouting "no more pens" as you jog back. Therefore, Farrell would be negligent in not clearly communicating to all players about what the ref asked, hence he needed to call everyone into a huddle. The ref then gives them no warning before putting time back on. Its ludicrous. The way he refuses to justify he decision to Farrell after and just jogs off shows he knows he has done wrong but can't reverse the decision. 

If this would have happened to Wasps not one poster on here would be saying we were to blame.

[BdeB]

Daly was where he should be.

First time for everything...

As the Captain was passing on the message to the team that they must role away quicker from the tackle, Daly assumed he didn’t need to listen as he doesn’t make any tackles.

[DGP Wasp]

Listening back to the incident, the conversation between Biggar and Gauzere was deliberately hushed.  Biggar understandably so, and it's a question he's entitled to ask, but Gauzere should have told him "No, time is off and I will tell you when it's back on", instead, he quietly said to him "Yeah, go on then, this should be funny" (not his exact words, but that was essentially it).

Farrell speaking to his team as instructed is fair enough and he should have been given the time to do that properly, but what was the water doing on?  I agree that Farrell sought to use it as an opportunity to slow things down, and the water was brought on to do exactly that and deny Wales the opportunity to go quickly.  England got caught out as a result of an opportunistic moment arising from their own gamesmanship so they are not entirely blameless.