If you find yourself on jury service in the criminal courts of justice, his Lordship will instruct you to reach a guilty verdict only if it is beyond all reasonable doubt. It is a high bar, but it allows for some element of doubt, that is, however, not compelling in the light of the evidence.
In rugby law, a penalty try is awarded when the referee feels that, but for the offence, a try would probably have been scored. That is close enough to the judge’s instruction – in other words, the referee can work on the same principle as a juror.
Not so, it appears, the television match official. When TMO Brian MacNeice was called into play by referee Nic Berry, he searched indefatigably for absolute, conclusive evidence that Scotland’s Sam Skinner had scored from a close-in drive.
It looked like the necessary proof was there, and, at one point the officials agreed that it was indeed a try, with Berry on the cusp of changing his on-field “no try” call. That was the moment to wrap things up and allow the score. But MacNeice wanted more convincing and went for another long look, before issuing the fateful words, “I cannot say for certain, I don’t have clear enough ball on ground.” Oh dear. That was that, Berry ruled it out, blew full time and France went home the winners. Scotland went home livid.
The TMO’s opinion was that the replays didn’t show clearly the ball being grounded; but they also didn’t show that it wasn’t, so where was it? It looked down to me, and no reasonable doubt existed to cancel out the try. Surely, these very tight situations should be treated in the same way as a penalty try, on the basis of probability. Common sense, dare I say.
Italian demolition job with Gerry Thornley and John O'Sullivan
The match itself was dire, a shocker, one of the worst Six Nations matches in memory. None of us who watched will ever get back those wasted hours. France seemed intent on making a profession out of errors, and the eventual rejoicing in their coaches’s box was borne out of nothing but sheer relief, jobs saved.
Scotland, when just six points ahead, seemed content to watch the clock wind down and not bother to play. The sight of Finn Russell, inside his 22, holding the ball and not doing a damn thing with it, was daft.
The rationale being that standing still was better than the risk of being tackled by French players who could advance once he had run five metres. There’s a simple law tweak fix for this, but it’s much more worrying that some teams now won’t risk running and passing unless they’re deep into opposition territory. That approach produces an unwelcome, unacceptable, boring amount of kicking, which can hardly be called tactical. It’s just not worth the ticket price.
Inevitably, late on – and Scotland should have expected it – France sparked into life just once, and once was enough. Going fast down the short-side, a clever deft chip into in-goal by the flying Louis Bielle-Biarrey found no defenders at home and it was a piece of cake for him to touch down, he’ll never get an easier one.
And so to Twickenham, England v Wales, and the historic appearance of Hollie Davidson, the first woman assistant referee in the Six Nations and hearty congrats to her. While the British honours system is often flawed, an award for Davidson must be on the cards. A friend asked me if she would make the next step, to actually referee at this level. My answer had to be, why not? A very good season or two at European level and it will be hard to stop her.
New Zealander James Doleman was in charge, delivering quite a good performance, but some marks were lost by over-resetting scrums. Also, for playing useless advantage when, in fact, the immediate penalty was the best advantage for the defending team. Playing on, just for the sake of it, is – literally as well as figuratively – a waste of time.
And we saw a correctly-awarded penalty try. Wales got up speed on a driving maul which was collapsed by England’s Ethan Roots just short of the goal line. Doleman, no hesitation, went under the posts immediately. A try probably would have been scored but for the actions of Roots, who was binned for his trouble. Whether or not Wales might have been held up over the line, if they’d got there, was not a consideration for the referee arriving at his decision, nor should it ever be.
Welsh club rugby is in disarray, and the WRU finances are in similar condition, but the national team has given their supporters something to sing about at last. Warren Gatland’s team could have won their two matches to date, losing to an aggregate of just three points; the coach’s uncanny knack with Wales continues.
Not much to report from a disturbingly near-silent Aviva. An adequate Ireland faced a poor challenge from the Azzurri, who failed to muster a score of any variety. A “quiet Luke Pearce” is a fine example of an oxymoron, but quiet he was. In his normally verbose mood, his constant chatter becomes a white noise irritant. However, if this is a permanent change in his modus operandi it is welcome and necessary.
This ‘less is more’ style of communication will hopefully prevail in the remaining matches of the championship, and then continue into all other competitions. Please.
