It seems to me it was one of those tackles, which to some extent was just too good ie he was cut in half and over rotated in the tackle. I think Sam knew this, and hence let go of the player which would have been a natural reaction. On hindsight perhaps he should have held on to the player to bring him to the ground gently. This however could have resulted in a proper spear tackle so he was between a rock and a hard place.
I thought Phillips could have got closer at the time, weaving between the two defenders. But I had the advantage of an overhead camera, and it could have been a risk. As he suggested i’d expect someone with 900 points to slot that. As for Jones non-drop goal attempt, trying to get in the perfect position wasn’t the crime, taking the ball up at first receiver (and loosing it in the tackle) was.
I was impressed to the welsh reaction to the sending off and in the post match interviews i watched. If it was the english players i’d have half expected a fair amount of moaning and gesticulating.