SPORT Anscombe: I did have downward pressure
Gareth Anscombe last night insisted his disallowed try should have been ruled good after the furore over the decision dominated the aftermath of Wales’ 12-6 defeat to England.
Warren Gatland’s men saw their Grand Slam and Triple Crown hopes evaporate at Twickenham after the thumping opening weekend win against Scotland.
Penalties by Rhys Patchell and Anscombe in each half were not enough after England raced into an early 12-0 lead with two tries by wing Jonny May.
But the 23rd-minute scratching out of Anscombe’s ‘try’ by the televsion match official, who ruled that the Wales full-back hadn’t been in sufficient control of the ball as he stretched to ground it under a challenge by England wing Anthony Watson, hit Wales hard.
The incident became the major talking point, with many, Gatland included, believing the score should have stood.
Anscombe said: “I felt some pressure of the ball on the ground. I thought that I got it down but the decision didn’t go our way.
“That was disappointing because it potentially would have changed the momentum, but ultimately it was still early on in the game and we had a lot of chances to fix it.
“The TMOs don’t always get it right, which is frustrating, but you can’t do much about that.
“We were confident once we saw the first replay and started jogging back.
“From a team’s point of view it would have been nice because it would have changed the momentum.
“We had a rough start and didn’t come out of the blocks well, so going back to the sheds at 12-7 would have been a different ball game. Anscombe impressed after starting the match because Leigh Halfpenny was ruled out by a foot infection.
He believes the performance was encouraging for Wales in terms of the rest of the Six Nations, with Ireland at the Aviva Stadium next up on Saturday week.
“That’s something that we can keep building on, and if we play with that intensity then we can get on top of most teams,” he said.
“There were positives, some negatives, and we can be confident going to Dublin in a couple of weeks.”