Sorry, but the referee got the red card call correct

AFTER the joy and euphoria of Twickenham last week, it ended up being a bit of a reality check for Scotland against Wales yesterday.

I’m sure I’m not alone when I say I felt a huge sense of deflation at the end as it was undoubtedly a game we should have won.

We had the game in our hands after dominating large swathes of the first half. Even at the start of the second period, it looked like only a matter of time before we stretched our lead.

Yeah, admittedly, Wales came back into it just towards the end of the first half and got a try to show for that. But, 17-8 ahead, Scotland were still well in control.

They were banging on the door over the opening 10 minutes after the interval, but it felt like the game unravelled so quickly for them.

There are questions to answer around their game-management and their indiscipline. They had the chance to bury Wales but fluffed their lines at key moments.

Scott Cummings and Gary Graham made a bit of a mess of what looked like a clear try as they were penalised for crossing as they went over the Welsh try-line.

It sounds easy, but it’s all about fine margins. At Test level, you can’t afford to pass up opportunities like that. You have to be ruthless. That was effectively seven points Scotland squandered as Wales then went up the other end and scored. It was almost like a 14-point swing.

That mentality shift was huge as it gave the Welsh a route back into the game. But there’s no doubt the red card to Zander Fagerson was a huge turning point.

I feel for him because I do believe he was slightly unfortunate. There was certainly no malice or intent to hurt the Welsh player.

Sometimes when you see these sort of challenges, it can be pretty blatant when someone leads with an arm or a shoulder and thumps the other player on the head.

That wasn’t the case with Fagerson. And, on a different day, he could have got away with a yellow card had another referee viewed it more leniently.

It certainly sounded like the TMO was trying to convince the referee that there was sufficient mitigation for it to only merit a yellow card.

But, by the letter of the law, it was a red card. As much as it pains me to admit it, I don’t think the referee really had much option.

Fagerson came from so far back as he launched himself into the challenge and had his arm tucked slightly underneath him, which was probably the decisive factor.

It wasn’t a malicious challenge but it was clumsy and you can’t argue too much with the red card, especially as the topic of concussion and head knocks is so sensitive just now. We saw it last weekend with the Peter O’Mahony red card, albeit that was more clear-cut.

Referees are being instructed to come down hard on any contact to the head and rightly so as we want to make rugby as safe as possible.

Imagine if the boot was on the other foot and a Wales player had made that challenge. We’d all have been screaming for the referee to show a red card.

That’s just the nature of sport. It feels like a kick in the teeth when it’s your team on the receiving end but it was the correct decision.

When Scotland analyse things, they’ll realise that despite the red card and numerical disadvantage, it was still a game they could have won. They had chances towards the end and the Welsh defence fronted up magnificently in key moments.

Wayne Pivac and his side probably silenced a few critics yesterday. Yeah, Scotland could have buried them had they taken their chances but Wales stuck to their task and found a way of fighting back. That speaks volumes about the character and resilience in their squad.

Scotland now need to dust themselves down ahead of a daunting trip to Paris in a couple of weeks. They had a chance yesterday to go again after Twickenham and back it up. Despite playing well for large chunks of the game, they ultimately failed to do that.

That’s the reality of elite sport. It was a missed opportunity and a game they ended up throwing away.

They will need to find a response because a trip to Paris is currently, without question, the most difficult fixture in the Six Nations.

Imagine if it had been a Welsh player who had made that challenge