@onehundred I think the players on the field and the coaches have been respectful. We fans / internet keyboard warriors can be more direct 8) I was at the game and the ball just bounced around, hard to tell what had happened. When you see the replay it most obviously bounces off the Australian, I think the TMO would take 2 seconds to call that unintentional and thus a scrum.

The bottle accusation I am not sure where it’s come from but you are searched on entry and can only buy plastic cups and bottles, you couldn’t throw one very far and if the ref is on the playing surface he’s miles out of range. I think he ran off due to the booing and he knows he’s made a shocking decision.

😯

Just an early PSA / diary planning thought, 2016 European Rugby Cup Final is in Lyon on May 14 tickets not on sale yet. Other dates QF/SF published. New stadium opening in early 2016. 2017 final will be in Edinburgh

ERC Dates and Final

And rugby descends even further into farce.

They also said he was unable to use the TMO.

at the very least World Rugby could have been much more supportive of the difficulty of the decision making given the number of bodies in the ricochet. Of course, the presumption might than be that with no clear foul, there should not have been a penalty, BUT if it looked to joubert like knock on then it was his prerogative to award a penalty on the back of what he saw even if he was wrong. I cant believe anyone thinks he was being either negligent or spiteful, he was just mistaken.

Now they’ve done that, the penalty should be struck off, or more I practically the result null and void and the match replayed. Imagine the Aussie fuss…

I expect the Australian Rugby authorities are sitting round a table this very minute discussing the draft of their letter withdrawing Australia from the semi final.

I wonder if he realised the mistake (or suspected it from the reactions).

Here’s a bit of whataboutery for you. What about if he’d asked for a TMO decision anyway. Would the TMO have refused to give it?

Is it better to follow the rules (about what TMO can be used for) and an injustice occurs; or ignore those rules but get ultimately the right outcome?

Would Australia have felt equally hard done by if he’d got the right decision by the wrong route?

All to illustrate – it’s a bloody tough job done by men who believe they are making the right calls; damned if they do, damned if they don’t. It was wrong to leg it at the end (bottles notwithstanding) but don’t judge the man until you’ve walked a mile in his boots.

Is Webb going to get the 9 shirt back? I thought Davies was…..even better……

RFU reportedly sniffing around Schmidt with a view to buying him out of contract.

Joubert made the error but it was understandable given his viewpoint. However, as he presumably saw on the big screen a better angle and what really happened could he not have employed common sense and awarded the scrum? He wouldn’t be using the TMO as such but he would be using all the evidence available to him.

What would Nigel Owens have done?

Idle gossip I reckon. They wouldn’t chance even sounding anyone out before the post mortem.

I think the IRB did the only thing they could and admitted the mistake, it’s obvious from the TV replays it was the wrong decision. They also, correctly, point out that the TMO cannot be used (technically) for a review. @wanman is correct they will change the TMPO rules, once you have TMO its daft not to be able to use it for everything as clearly a 78th minute penalty is just as important as a 2nd minute try. You can’t replay the game as it was a mistake, so hats off to the IRB for just saying so.

@namaste , no I don’t think the error was understandable. In that situation you have to be really really sure it was intentional

I don’t buy the Schmidt rumours, the review will take place after the RWC. I’m glad Rob Andrew has nothing to do with it, you do wonder what the £500k pa the RFU pays him is actually for. Hopefully the review will do away with his position entirely.

There’s no ‘technically’ about it, it can’t be used for every call.

They even mentioned the RFU’s interest in Schmidt on the Ireland game commentary

Whatnobeer, the definition of foul play runs to 8 pages in my book of laws 🙂

But the intro goes:
Anything…. That a player does against the letter or the spirit of the laws of the game. It includes obstruction, unfair play, repeated infringements, dangerous play and misconduct which is prejudicial to the game.

So it comes back to:

If he gives a penalty in that situation he suspects foul play and can go to tmo.

Otherwise its accidental and scrum/free kick. As happened earlier.

What I don’t think has been done is consider what if a scrum had been awarded. So Australia win their scrum, inside the Scotland half. Half a dozen phases gains them 20m. At which point it’s played back for a drop goal with the clock already past 80 minutes. Same result.

OK, so it might not have happened like that – Scotland might have collapsed the scrum or conceded a penalty at some other point during those phases. You’d have to think though that with possession in the Scotland half, Australia were favourites to find some way to score. The idea that had the penalty not been awarded Scotland would have won is quite a big assumption.

Not quite, the law is more relaxed about the forward pass it is only intentional offside if the intention is on the part of the passer not the receiver. (12.1 f) (and that intention is to pass the ball forward, rather than not quite manage to pass the ball flat or backwards)

And always not forgetting that in most forward passes, the receiver usually starts off in an onside and is never actually offside. He just receives the ball in front of the passer.

RFU should never had let Edwards go, proven club coach gaining international experience. They should have found a away to get him to stay and helped him prepare for taking the top job at some point. My view is it will go to an English coach (80%) vs Lancaster keeping the job (20%)

@Stoner the IRB have said flat out it was the wrong decision.

@aracer indeed, we don’t know what would have happened but the odds would have been much more in favour of Scotland

PSA for Stade Français v Munster in November, the cheapest Cat 4 tickets are €13-15 and a very good view in a great club stadium tickets