In Wales there will always be a warm welcome for referee Pascal Gaüzère
If Wales do go on to win a grand slam an extra medal will need to be ordered. At every annual get-together the meal will also have to be interrupted for a toast to the man who made it possible. ‘To Pascal Gaüzère, the world’s greatest referee!’ Step aside Nigel Owens, Welsh rugby has a new whistling hero to celebrate.
Without wishing to minimise the triple crown-clinching efforts of every player in red, it was the man in black who will forever be remembered when this fixture is discussed. As far as England are concerned he will be granted slightly different status, up alongside South Africa’s André Watson on the list of officials whose very name makes them twitch. “Can refs be subbed off?” asked James Haskell on Twitter at halftime. The former England flanker spoke for his entire nation.
In Wales, though, there will always be a welcome in the hillsides for Monsieur Gaüzère. Before the second half had begun someone had doctored the French official’s Wikipedia page to suggest he hailed from Wales. Worldwide fame can be swiftly acquired in the modern virtual world.
Would Wales have won without their new best mate? Probably, but without those two highly contentious first-half tries it would have been far tougher. England might have led at the interval and the rhythm of the game could have been very different. Playing catch-up at this level is seriously tough, as England found to their cost.
Maybe it was Gaüzère’s way of atoning for the absence of the raucously passionate 16th man who normally assists Wales on these occasions. That said, the home side made the most of their good fortune, just as they did when their previous opponents, Ireland and Scotland, were both reduced to 14 men. Sport, sometimes, is about who reacts quickest when the unexpected happens.
Wales, in that respect, were mustard. French mustard, in this case. Dan Biggar was not remotely bothered about water carriers, he was playing to Gaüzère’s whistle. Likewise Kieran Hardy for Wales’s third try, a quick tap outfoxing England again. The visitors could hardly say they were not warned.
They also finished comfortably the stronger side, having to win the game again in the final quarter after England had scrambled their way back to 24-24. It was the excellent Callum Sheedy who kicked the nerveless goals, not Gaüzère. Ditto Cory Hill with his late try. And what about the remarkable Taulupe Faletau, a mighty force throughout? On this evidence Warren Gatland need look no further for the first name on his Lions teamsheet.
The stands may have been empty, but it was not hard to imagine cushions flying in every Welsh living room. Imagine what the Principality Stadium atmosphere would have been like under normal circumstances? Actually, don’t. It’s too painful. The streets of Cardiff were like a ghost town, the usually seething pubs shuttered up like an out-of-season holiday resort. It almost made you nostalgic for the glistening pools of late-night vomit. Almost.
England will certainly be pig sick at this outcome. West of Chepstow, though, the daffodil season is suddenly in full bloom. What might now be possible in this weirdest of Six Nations seasons?
Next stop for Wales is Rome where 17 Italians, on recent form, would prob
ably be insufficient to deliver a home win. France in Paris will be slightly trickier but who knows, by then, what the ripple effect of Les Bleus’ Covid-19 issues might be? Either way, “Pascal!” will be the familiar cry for decades to come.