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The simple, short answer is no. The longer, more complicated answer is yes.
Having traded kicks, the English made an early line break down the centre of the field from good field position through their captain Chris Robshaw.
As he approached the fullback, he looked over his left shoulder for support to where a teammate was being pulled back by Ma’a Nonu.
The play continued, and unable to capitalise on the correctly officiated advantage, the referee brings them back for the penalty. It is the first minute of the game and it should have been a yellow card.
Maybe I’m being too harsh on Nonu – I’m sure I’ll be informed in the comments if this is the case – but it looked a professional foul to me. Put it down to luck, but he stayed on the pitch and England took the 3 points.
The second incident took place in the 56th minute. On the back of a good scrum, Aaron Cruden went down the blind side with Jerome Kaino in support, chipped and chased resulting in a scramble on the line before Kaino knocked the ball on. An English scrum on their five-metre line resulted.
Once again I might be being too harsh, but on the replay it looked like in the attempt to clear the ball Cruden was tripped, and quite viciously. Neither the players nor the commentators made mention of this – the bounce of the ball excuse is easily applied – but this should have been a red card.
So those are the two incidents I deemed noteworthy.
But it gets murkier still. For all my qualms with the refereeing of these two incidents, the game was contested by two worthy opponents. Both teams dropped plenty of ball, had their chances and all three results were possible from the final play. It was a wonderful game for a neutral fan.
Should it have happened differently? Maybe, but it is one of the most tragic conditions that we as a species find in this universe that so far we can only travel in one direction through time.
As an Australian, the result was never going to bother me, but English fans can feel hard done by that Nonu wasn’t carded. And so the speculation begins.
Nigel Owens had a fantastic match and as a result the match itself was wonderful. I look forward to the game next week.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.