SIX NATIONS 2024
THERE is a three-volume book to be written on false dawns, shattered dreams and broken hearts in Scottish rugby and this game will surely have its own substantial tear-stained entry. Last week they won a game they should probably have lost and yesterday they lost a game they should definitely have won.
The agonising prolonged TMO investigation that concluded that Scotland had not forced their way over for the winning try, with the clock in the red, may have been great TV but it was pretty average officiating and not a good look for the game. Referee Nic Berry was way too quick for my liking with his “on field decision no try” and in fact for the umpteenth time you wonder why rugby even does that when the TMO technology was specifically invented and introduced to provide a definitive decision – yes or no – for such try scoring incidents.
Then when we looked at the pictures, there we had it, the ball obviously sliding off a boot and making clear contact with the ground on and just beyond the line. At Murrayfield yesterday, in the 81st minute, Scotland beyond all reasonable doubt scored a try but the record books will not reflect that.
The footage which we all enjoyed was not enough to convince the TMO, Ireland’s Brian MacNeice, who bizarrely at one stage of the elongated process was clearly coming around to the decision that it was a try. And then, with the referee Berry now convinced that he needed to change his original decision, MacNeice did another 180 degree turn and ruled no try without any real further explanation. Very messy and unsatisfactory.
So all that was dramatic and poignant and no blame can attach to Scotland, but it also needs to be stressed that elsewhere in this curious game the Scots were the architects of their own demise, yet again failing to convert pressure into points and then, when just six points up with 15-20 minutes or so remaining, getting lured into a farcical brainless soul destroying game of kick tennis from which they could garner no benefit.
Twice when Scotland, 13-10 up, turned down penalties in front of the posts just before half-time with France down to 14 men were vital. A huge call as everybody knew. You don’t normally turn down certain points against France. Scotland the brave though went for the jugular... although sometimes the bravest thing is to do the obvious.
At the first scrum France scrummaged well but Maxime Lucu was all over Ben White manhandling him and fair play to Berry for pinging him – it’s illegal to play the scrum-half without the ball even if it is allowed way too much.
Scotland went for another scrum but hold your breath
