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Disgraceful TMO Decision Robs Wales Of A Try At Twickenham

Disgraceful TMO Decision Robs Wales Of A Try At Twickenham
Michael McCarthy
By Michael McCarthy
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You're missing eight Lions, another is on the bench having just come back to fitness. You lose your goalkicker and talisman on the morning of the game. You're playing against a team who have lost one test match in their last 26, and haven't been beaten at home since the 2015 World Cup. You're 12-0 down already.

It was already a bit of an uphill task facing Wales, when they got through for a shock breakaway try against England.

Then the referee Jerome Garces and his TMO stepped up to the plate and made one of the craziest calls even seen in international rugby.

A clever kick into the corner was almost picked up by winger Steff Evans, who, luckily, pushed the ball on with his knee, and not his hands. That left a race in the in-goal area for a loose ball between Wales full-back Gareth Anscombe and England's Anthony Watson. In the slow motion replay, there is clear evidence that Anscombe was the first to the ball, and got downward pressure on the ball, before Watson ever got there.

Simple enough? Well, that was until the TMO got involved.

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The exact words of the TMO - Glenn Newman from New Zealand - are quite astonishing. Despite clear video evidence to the contrary, he confidently tells Garces that the first grounding was from an English player, Watson.

The ball has come off the knee of the Welsh player, but has not been clearly grounded. The first grounding is by England.

It's an incredible, unforgivable mistake, and surely ones that should have consequences.

Needless to say, Welsh fans, and rugby fans in general, were not happy with the call.

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