Paul O'Connell was the ultimate voice of reason on BBC's coverage of Scotland's victory against England on Saturday evening.
The game featured two especially frustrating moments for England. Twice fans must have thought England had grabbed a crucial try at Murrayfield only for referee Nigel Owens' whistle to call halt to their celebrations.
First, there was what looked like an intercept try for Danny Care. Owens called that back for a legitimate penalty against Joe Launchbury in a ruck.
Second, Owen Farrell touched down only for the TMO to show that Courtney Lawes had clearly knocked the ball on in a tackle on John Barclay.
"A lot of debate is going to be about how Nigel Owens handled the game, particularly in the second half and one or two key decisions that were made," presenter John Inverdale told viewers on BBC before showing replays of both incidents.
"Technically, Nigel's right," said Martin Johnson of Care's no-try, as if somehow suggesting that despite following the laws of the game, Owens should still have allowed the try to stand.
Cut back to the panel and Paul O'Connell ended the debate.
If you want to do a forensic analysis of the game, if you're an English supporter you can look at every ruck and you can see a penalty for you; you can see one for Scotland if you're a Scottish supporter. But, for my eyes, I thought Nigel Owens had a good game.
O'Connell shutting down Inverdale found favour with Scottish supporters.
Fair play to @Paul_OConnell for not going along with John Inverdales shite about Nigel Owens
— David power (@Daithipower81) February 24, 2018
Inverdale is an absolute embarrassment to @BBCSport even Paul O'Connell had to tell him to stop. There are far better presenters on the BBC staff #SCOvENG
— Bruce McConachie (@brucemcconachie) February 24, 2018
Well done @Paul_OConnell. Shutting down any nonsense about @Nigelrefowens excellent performance. #scoveng Great game and top unbiased analysis.
— Allan Robertson (@dba_hba) February 24, 2018
You can watch Paul O'Connell on BBC below.
