IT GOT somewhat overwhelmed by the celebratory testosterone elsewhere on Saturday night, but, a wee word of praise for The Thistles ladies development squad, who beat their Welsh opponents 21-7 at Cardiff Arms Park on Saturday.
Scottish wins in the Welsh capital are a wee bit like rocking horse shite, so well done to the girls, who backed-up their solid showing first time out with this welcome victory. Three wins from three matches against Welsh opponents in one weekend is a brilliant return for the SRU.
I HAVE been involved in rugby since 1958, so I have probably forgotten more than most of today's active rugby journalists have even learned.
Over my long association with the game, I have even on several occasions actually refereed games – and believe me, playing is far-easier. Refereeing is a thankless task, particularly today, when, at the top level, the all-intrusive television cameras have turned everyone watching into an instant expert.
Thus, in spite of instances where the match referee is forced to rely on one of the game's great unbreakable Laws: Law 6, 5 (a):
The referee is the sole judge of fact and of law during a match. The referee must apply the laws of the game fairly in every match.
Now, after every match, you will find some numpty – in the case of games at the elite level a lot of numpties – who are prepared to skweam and skweam and skweam that the referee was biased. I must say, in my 60-plus years I the game, I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I have been convinced I was watching a biased official; but, cries of bias still follow every contentious decision.
That's probably human nature, but, increasingly in this television age, we find armchair experts prepared to dispute the part of Law 6, 5a, we must never dispute:
The referee is the sole judge of fact and of law during a match.
That particular rugby law got a lot of people het-up on Saturday thanks to a couple of incidents. Firstly, there was Wayne Barnes' decision to only yellow card French prop Uini Atonio for a high tackle on Irish hooker Rob Herring in the first half of the game in Dublin.
Countless armchair experts were crying for a red card for Atonio, but, the way Barnes handled the incident and reached his yellow card decision was, I believe, a textbook example of a top official, at the top of his game, making a difficult decision.
Yes, some will still think Atonio should have seen red, but, Barnes, the referee, was the sold judge of fact and we must now accept his decision.
There was a similar incident in the later Scotland v Wales game at BT Murrayfield, where Referee Andrew Brace decided a yellow card was sufficient punishment for a George Turner tackle on George North. I actually thought, this was an easier decision than the one in Dublin, and again – the referee got it right - so, live with it.
Barnes and his team cannot be held responsible, for another contentious decision on the day – when he decided James Lowe had scored what seemed at first to have been a spectacular try for Ireland.
The match officials reviewed several television angles of the try and decided, there was no overwhelming evidence to disallow it – thus, the try stood.
However, long after the game had restarted, another television angle, not previously made available to the TMO, emerged, which showed, Lowe had indeed put a foot in touch and the try should have been disallowed.
There have been suggestions for some time, that television companies have been withholding footage which makes life awkward for the home team, with French TV in particular being accused of being highly-selective in deciding what footage to show the TMO.
I believe, there is overwhelming evidence that, on Saturday, some producer or director from the Irish host broadcaster, RTE, played a blinder in helping Ireland's cause.
Never mind, what goes around comes around and, some day that decision by the man from RTE will come back and bite Ireland. Also, since I can see no way other than World Rugby/The Six Nations spending millions in setting-up their own television crew to provide coverage for all relevant games – which will not happen – then there will always be scope for such skullduggery.
England v ITALY on Sunday was like watching paint dry – two poor sides playing poor rugby, under the gaze of a poor referee, poorly covered by the broadcaster.
Italy were a long way short of the form they showed against France in Rome, while England were as poor as they were against us. Referee James Doleman had a shocker, getting a lot of his calls wrong. Given England have to go to Cardiff in two weeks, this one might yet prove to have been a wooden spoon decider.
Let's not forget – Italy won the second half, pity they didn't get off the bus until half time. For England, it was a welcome win, but, one of David Dodds' ugliness.
FINALLY – this one came to me late on Saturday night. I was listening to Billy Sloan on BBC Shortbread; when they went to the 11pm news, they included a clip of “Scotland Captain Finn Russell” speaking after Scotland had beaten Wales at Murrayfield.
Now, I know The Gallus One is the guy who makes us tick, but, the fact the newshounds at Pacific Quay can identify him as the skipper demonstrates how little they know or care about rugby. We deserve better.
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