Townsend unhappy with referee decisions
SCOTLAND head coach Gregor Townsend believes that referee Luke Pearce made a mistake when he took the Television Match Official’s advice to award an offside penalty against Hamish Watson in the 70th minute of last night’s match at Murrayfield.
It was a crucial moment in the contest with Australia’s veteran fly-half stepping up to slot the crucial three points which ultimately proved to be the difference between the two teams.
Asked if he thought it was a fair call, Townsend replied: “I don’t believe so – and it wasn’t the ref’s call.
“The ref said: ‘ Play on, it’s just a knock-on’. But the assistant referee on the far side – 50 yards away – said Hamish was offside, but he wasn’t offside. Nic White had taken the ball out of the maul [so Hamish was entitled to move forward].
But Townsend said he had no complaints about the sinbinning of replacement secondrow Glen Young at a crucial moment midway through the second half of last night’s match although he did call for a change of laws so that situations such as this do not continue to occur in the future.
“It was a brilliant bit of rugby,” Townsend said. “Someone sprinting to get to the ball carrier – a big athletic second-row in his second game for Scotland – it was a millimetre away from being the best clear-out you’ll ever see, to hitting the smallest guy on the field in the head area.
“I personally believe the jackal should be taken out the game because there are too many injuries to the jackaling player and there is too much risk for the player making the clear out.
“We’re encouraging our players to sprint to win that race because if you don’t win the race then you are not going to be able to move that jackaler.
“So, if someone is sprinting
The assistant referee on the far side – 50 yards away – said Hamish was offside, but he wasn’t
because he thinks he is going to win that race, he’s not going to slow down a yard from the ruck in enough time.
“So, we said that to Glen: ‘that it is a world class piece of play or a yellow card, and there is nothing you can change about it unless you decide to go to the ruck and let the other team win the ball’.
“I’m not saying it [this specific decision] is right or wrong, but I personally think we need to take the jackaler out.
“It was a massive moment in the game, and I don’t just think the yellow card. We didn’t score the try from the break, but we would have had a scrum to Australia five yards from their own line, so they would have been under pressure. That penalty let them get to our halfway line, and with a man down we had to defend differently [and ultimately lost a try].”
There was further controversy around the officiating at the end of the match when Australian centre Hunter Paisami was yellow-carded by Pearce following a review of the footage for a deliberate knock-on, only to have that sanction rescinded as he reached the touchline because the TMO had pointed out that the intended recipient of the pass, Duhan van der Merwe, did not have a clear run at the try-line.
“I’ve never seen that in a game before, when someone is yellow-carded and is off the field, and the TMO says you should bring him back on because Duhan was covered,” he shrugged in exasperation.
“It is still a deliberate knock-on. I don’t think it would have made much difference, but we should let the referees referee.”
The only new injury concern from the match last night was Sam Skinner, with Townsend explaining that he is more optimistic about the player’s prognosis now than he was when the second-row was replaced in the 24th minute.
“He’s more positive in the changing room,” Townsend said. “He had a foot injury. He’s in a boot and we don’t know how long that will keep him out.
“We’ve had three second-rows injured since we announced the squad with Richie Gray and Scott Cummings during the week, and now Sam.
“Richie should be full training next week. He’s gone through the protocols [to return from a head injury] up to yesterday and let’s hope Sam is available for these games as well.”