Poite gets praise for handling of scrums

REFEREE Romain Poite has been praised for his handling of the scrum during the Wales v England game despite the Welsh management complaining to World Rugby about him.

The Frenchman’s officiating left Wales angered and frustrated, with Dan Biggar appearing to be taken out in the air in the build-up to England’s first try and a dubious-looking high tackle by Elliot Daly on Josh Adams going unpunished.

On top of the those incidents, Wales found themselves in trouble at scrum time, with Poite repeatedly penalising a Welsh front row that had been picked specifically for its scrummaging prowess.

But former international referee Jonathan Kaplan, one of the most experienced in the game, insists Poite was superb at scrum time, describing his management of the set-piece as arguably the best in the game.

Writing in his Telegraph column, he said: “Where Romain deserves great credit is with the scrums.

“During England’s win over Ireland, they were a mess and chewed away at the clock. “Romain was really decisive. “There were not too many resets.

“He quickly identified transgression, rewarded dominance and, on the technical side of things, understood how important it was to upgrade free-kicks to penalties – doing so for both teams.

“England’s pack was dominant for most of the game but Romain was still smart enough to notice them pulling back on Wales’ putin.

“That shows me that there wasn’t a randomness about his decision-making.

“He has long been one of the best referees in this facet and the game on Saturday was better for it.”