Ref poor, but All Blacks too inaccurate
OPINION: Referee Romain Poite had a shocker, but the All Blacks only have themselves to blame for their 15-15 draw with to the British and Irish Lions on Saturday night.
Poite got whistle-shy in the dying minutes of the test costing the All Blacks the points which would have clinched a series win.
But their mistakes throughout the game was what put them at the mercy of Poite’s whistle.
The All Blacks should have had a penalty for Ken Owens being offside when he touched a ball knocked on by Liam Williams.
With two and half minutes remaining, Poite called the penalty before getting cold feet and turning to TMO George Ayoub.
From the discussions we could hear on the telecast, it appeared they had agreed on the penalty.
Poite: ‘‘The red touched the ball in the second time and the 16 got the ball in front’’.
Ayoub: ‘‘Romian, there are all the angles.’’
Poite: ‘‘Are you happy for the knock on, challenge in the air fair and penalty against 16 red in front?’’. Ayoub: ‘‘Yes I am’’. But something happened after that to change his mind.
It is possible a player convinced him, or perhaps Ayoub or one of the assistant referees said something while the broadcasters had their mics turned down.
By the time he pulled Lions captain Sam Warburton and All Blacks captain Kieran Read together, it was a rather different discussion.
Poite: ‘‘We have a deal about the offside from 16’’. Warburton ‘‘Black or red?’’. Poite: ‘‘Sixteen red, OK. He did not play deliberately the ball, OK. It was an accidental offside’’. Read: ‘‘No, no, no, no, no’’. Poite: ‘‘It was an accidental offside. We go for a scrum for black’’.
Read: ‘‘Romain, Romain, in the rules there is no accidental offside’’. Poite: ‘‘It was, it was’’. Read: ‘‘No, no’’. Poite: ‘‘Because the ball touched him, it wasn’t a play OK. We play for a scrum’’.
To make things worse for the All Blacks is that Poite then declined to blow for a penalty from the ensuing scrum where the Lions appeared to stand-up and illegally wheel it.
But to be fair, the match would not have come down to those moments if the All Blacks had taken their chances.
Missed kicks, dropped ball, forward passes; they were turning into an epidemic for the All Blacks at crucial moments.
The opening 15 minutes belonged to New Zealand as they launched wave after wave of attack.
They walked out of that period with a 7-0 lead – a tremendous try to Ngani Laumape after Jordie Barrett tapped back a Beauden Barrett cross field kick.
But it was not enough. They needed to register more points to capitalise on their dominance.
The mistakes were never cleaned up. Up 12-6 at halftime, the All Blacks were vulnerable. The second half was much like the first.
And while the Jerome Kaino yellow card may have been hard to swallow considering the inaction over Sean O’brien last week.
Regardless, it was the right call – but it should be noted that a clearly knocked-out Alun Wyn Jones should have never been allowed back on the field.
Statistically, the teams appeared fairly even. But there were signs where the All Blacks went wrong.
Fourteen missed tackles, 21 turnovers conceded, they lost the penalty count 9-5 and the Lions even out-did them offloading 10-7.
The All Blacks made six line breaks to the Lions’ one. A clinical All Blacks side would have converted those into tries.
Instead, on Saturday night they bombed their opportunities.
And that put Poite in a position to decide the outcome of the match.