I wonder will Joe Schmidt be thinking that it’s one that got away. I suspect he well might be.
Schmidt understands the importance of match official performance, and carries out a detailed analysis of each referee, both for his overall match preparation, and afterwards too. He is rigorous in his reviewing, and he’s also accurate. Remember, after Ireland’s defeat to Japan in 2019, World Rugby had to agree with him that three out of four offside calls against Ireland were wrong.
There were many important moments at the Aviva, particularly Caelan Doris’s try shortly after half-time; it was critical to the result. Schmidt will, no doubt, wind the video back on that one, to Sam Prendergast’s towering up-and-under kick. Hugo Keenan chased it with a magnificent leap any salmon would have been proud of, ensuring that Ireland kept possession. But had he knocked on? It certainly looked like it to me, and it definitely needed to be checked.
The knock-on definition is perfectly clear, not complex. If a player knocks the ball forward, he must then catch it before it touches the ground, or before it touches any other player – and that means a player of either team. Otherwise, it’s a knock-on, scrum to follow. The sequence here was that after the knock-on, the ball was next played by Australia’s Tom Wright, before it then hit Keenan again. Next, the ball and the Irish fullback went to ground, where he pushed it back on the Irish side.
Wright had played it, Keenan had not caught it, so, on both counts of the law, it qualified as an infringement. The next breakdown saw an immediate penalty to the home team, and a perfect move off the subsequent lineout saw Doris crashing over. The simple conversion made it a seven pointer, with Ireland eventually winning by three.
Neither the referee nor his assistants thought something might be amiss, and the TMO, Frenchman Eric Gauzins, did not suggest a review. Sometimes, it’s impossible to understand how everybody misses something; or, is it a question of poor law knowledge? Not so long ago, a couple of visiting elite referees argued the toss with me. They considered that if a player knocks the ball forward, and then knocks it backwards to a team-mate, it doesn’t qualify as a knock-on, which is absolutely incorrect.
The rationale for the law is that catching the ball is a skill, dropping it is not. Hence, the requirement to complete the catch is the only way to redeem a potential mistake. Also forbidden is deliberately slapping the ball forward, even if the player succeeds in running after the ball and catching it. It rarely happens, but there would be chaos if it was dealt with in the same way as accidental knock-on fumbles.
Unfortunately, Finlay Bealham had a couple of those fumbles in quick succession, and then rounded off an unhappy first-half with a clumsy attempt to charge down a kick by Max Jorgensen. Bealham clattered into the Australian’s legs, an awkward late challenge. Andrea Piardi measured this offence accurately, deciding on a penalty only, while Oz skipper, Harry Wilson, appeared to question if a yellow card was necessary.
Over the last couple of years, under the guidance of Alain Rolland, Piardi has come a long way, showing a lot of calm confidence, and communicating in perfect English. He has pretty much nailed down his position in the elite group, and there’s no doubt that we will see more of him.
The scrum throw-in continues on its merry, and quite ludicrous way, it’s so crooked now that scrum-halves are rushing to the number eight′s feet, to be there at the same time as the ball arrives. Too often the scrum is nothing more than an ugly blot on the landscape of the game, rather than a terrific attacking platform. It needs urgent attention, which, shamefully, it is not getting, despite World Rugby’s fan focused re-imagining of the game we hear so much about.
Piardi showed far too much tolerance, over-explaining what he wanted – there was very little point in repeating what he said he had told the players before the game. The first scrum took an age to get started, before the referee decided on a free-kick after several resets; that was just two minutes after the kick-off. And then, with just two minutes left on the clock, there was still a scrum conversation going on.
The front rows are supposed to be in position for the referee to start the engagement process after 30 seconds, but there is an understandable reluctance to hurry them up. There are huge forces and weights involved, and there has to be an overriding imperative to allow the front rows time to be comfortable, to be as safe as possible, before getting down to business.
And still things can go frighteningly wrong. Only a fortnight ago the South African World Cup winning prop, Steven Kitshoff, underwent major, complicated surgery for severe injury, high up on his neck, to the vital C1 and C2 vertebrae. Whether or not he will play again is unknown, but, most importantly, the operation was successful. The prop is a very fortunate man, these injuries can be life changing.
Kitshoff has stated that it was not the result of a scrum collapse. Very tellingly, he also said: “It was quite a fright. It happened in the weirdest way. Just a normal scrum, an everyday type of thing, and then I felt something snap.” There is absolutely nothing to add to those informative words, we must just read them carefully.
