Farrell’s point was a valid one

TRY ONE

I have sympathy for Owen Farrell and England. What the referee did may have been correct by the letter of the law, but the fair thing would have been to allow England to reset their defence before putting the time back on.

He asked Farrell to speak to his team about their discipline, and they were in that huddle, above, because he asked them to be.

My game management as a referee in that situation would be to say to myself: ‘Right, I have asked him to speak to his players. I need to be sure that I give them enough time to get back into defence.’ The referee did not do that.

Farrell did the right thing when he put his point across to the referee. That is what you want from your captain. He was frustrated, understandably so.

If that had been me, I would have thought, ‘Hang on, fair point, I asked you to form a huddle and should have given you time.’

I would like to think I would not have put the time back on in the first place, but if Farrell had come to me and explained his position I would have looked again and not allowed the try.