The incident in Dublin sparked fierce debate among supporters and Nigel Owens has delivered his verdict on it
Nigel Owens believes a hugely-controversial try in the Six Nations clash between Ireland and Wales should not have been awarded.
The incident in Dublin came when Jack Conan crossed early in the second half during Ireland’s 27-17 victory at the Aviva Stadium, a moment that sparked fierce debate among supporters.
Officials checked the score following concerns that hooker Ronan Kelleher may have blocked Welsh defender Eddie James in an offside position during the build-up.
After a review, referee Karl Dickson and the TMO deemed Kelleher to be level with the ball carrier and allowed the try to stand, a decision that left many Welsh fans furious.
However, speaking on World Rugby’s Whistle Watch, former international referee and WalesOnline columnist Owens said the try should have been ruled out.
“In this instance, you can see that the player is slightly in front of the ball carrier, which means he is not in a position to receive that pass,” Owens explained.
“Which means then, when contact is made, he is in an offside position.
“It’s not one of those where he is clearly in front and makes contact with someone way in front, but he is in front.
“The fairest thing to do, and the right thing to do, is to chalk that try off. He was in front, which means he is offside when he makes contact with the Welsh defender, so the try should have been chalked off.”
Officials instead went on to review the grounding of the ball, with questions raised about whether Conan had full control when touching down.
Owens said that part of the decision was extremely tight but ultimately irrelevant given the earlier offside.
“If you are in possession of the ball, you don’t need downward pressure, the ball just needs to touch the tryline,” he said.
“If the ball is loose then you need downward pressure on the ball to score the try.
“They felt here that as he is going down, the ball has moved up to the side of the wrist, so he is not in control of that.
“What they couldn’t see was the left hand and whether that was still in possession of the ball, holding it against the wrist.
“But ultimately, with the offside, we shouldn’t even be looking at that. The try should have been chalked off.”
The incident sparked anger among supporters, while pundits weighed in after the match.
“I suppose if you’re Welsh and you’re looking at this, you’d certainly think there’s cause for the TMO to interject,” said former Ireland centre Brian O’Driscoll.
“It’s Kelleher’s line that he runs and the defender he takes out – is he potentially in front of Jack Conan, who carries the ball?
“He just gets himself in there. I don’t know if Eddie James is going to make the collision, but he certainly isn’t helped by being taken out by Kelleher.
“The referee says he’s level. If you’re Irish, he’s level. If you’re Welsh, you maybe say he’s in front.”
Former Wales fly-half Dan Biggar added: “The frustrating thing is the TMO has had a chance to look at it and it probably wasn’t absolutely conclusive. If you’ve got a red jersey, it’s in front, and if you’re in a green jersey, it’s level.”
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Owens also addressed two other flashpoints from the match.
One involved a scrum incident between Tadhg Furlong and Nicky Smith, where the Irish prop threw the Welshman to the ground without being penalised.
Owens said referees can take different approaches to such moments.
“You’ve got to put things into context. Referees can deal with things differently,” he said.
“Some referees might have felt he should have been penalised, no more than a penalty, and he could have done that.
“The way that Karl Dickson referees and manages the game in general, he probably would have said, ‘Boys, get up and get on with it, please.’
“There’s no right or wrong.”
Another moment involved Louis Rees-Zammit tangling legs with Irish scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park during a defensive scramble.
Trips in rugby are typically treated seriously, but Owens believed this incident did not fall into that category.
“A trip is not legal. A trip was always a red-card offence, a really dangerous act,” he said.
“But I think what happens here is there is more of a tangle of legs than an actual movement out of the leg to trip someone over.
“If he does an action to trip someone over, you are in trouble. I think in this instance, it’s just a tangle.”