Seeing red: Wales into semi-final after controversial thriller

"to where the ball was caught" Yes this is the point I'm making.

If you look at where the French forward was when he fell which was same spot as where the ball was ripped (in a cork screwing 180 degree scrum and his halfback was actually the welsh halfback but anyhow..) to where the ball was caught, it looks quite forward. Also that scrum, i'm no expert ut the French didn't really get shunted and dismantled too much in it, for the most part it got corkscrewed and is it went near the 180 mark the angle collasped the french forward pack (as it was), for the most part they held there own backwards/forwards wise. Givent that, can understand why they packed down one less, if the ball had been turned over otherwise, on their line, the back line would have been one short in a quick touch down situation.

What Vahaamahina did was so stupid that the French Union should ban him for 2 years.

Well Mr Owen thoroughly investigated the penalty try he awarded to Ireland v the ABs. The evidence for me showed there should have been no penalty let alone a penalty try - and yellow carding of the alleged offender Matt Todd.

This is the mistake many make in my opinion. We even heard it from referee Barnes earlier in the tournament .....like - "we have the white line to help us" when ruling a pass forward. Just look at the ball and look at the hand. If it leaves the hand forward then its forward. If not then it's not. In this instance I can't see that it is clearly and obviously forward from the hand so for me it's not forward. But this again is proof that many people can watch the same thing and come to different conclusions.

“It’s such a shame that what could have been an exciting last 10 minutes was ruined by six minutes of scrum resets.” Fully agree. A similar situation occurred just before half time in the England-Wallaby match. It is frustrating and anger generating (if you are the side wanting more time, that is!). A wise prop can stall to burn important seconds by: complaining about footing, (“Please, Sir, can we move the scrum over there…no, over here…no, over yonder”); lift his head and whinge about an opposite; say he wasn’t ready; go down on one knee at the crouch or bind stage; etc. Why time off is not called as soon as a scrum is called, then continued when a half is in possession or a penalty is given, is another example of how the game is being strangled. And while we are on scrums – why have we followed League by allowing the ball to be fed behind the hooker’s feet? Rugby’s allure is partly based on the notion that all breakdowns are a fair contest for the ball: https://www.rugbyworld.com/news/scrum-put-in-rules-rugby-explained-88838 If the above site is accurate (“The aim is to promote a fair contest for possession while also giving an advantage to the team putting the ball into the scrum. In most cases the opposition will have infringed for that team to be awarded the put-in.”) then why not allow ‘not in straight’ at a line-out?

Peyper and Williams : what a combination. They were poor all year during SuperXV. Nigel Owen would never have called try, without really thorough investigation.

spot on.

I admit that, it's not as obvious as I thought, but with mental white lines drawn on the screen it is still forward.

Fully agree. A similar situation occurred just before half time in the England-Wallaby match. It is frustrating and anger generating (if you are the side wanting more time, that is!). A wise prop can stall to burn important seconds by: complaining about footing, (“Please, Sir, can we move the scrum over there…no, over here…no, over yonder”); lift his head and whinge about an opposite; say he wasn’t ready; go down on one knee at the crouch or bind stage; etc. Why time off is not called as soon as a scrum is called, then continued when a half is in possession or a penalty is given, is another example of how the game is being strangled. And while we are on scrums – why have we followed the Leaguie folly of allowing the ball to be fed behind the hooker’s feet? Rugby’s allure is partly based on the notion that all breakdowns are a fair contest for the ball: https://www.rugbyworld.com/news/scrum-put-in-rules-rugby-explained-88838 If the above site is accurate (“The aim is to promote a fair contest for possession while also giving an advantage to the team putting the ball into the scrum. In most cases the opposition will have infringed for that team to be awarded the put-in.”) then why not allow ‘not in straight’ at a line-out; then we can reduce the game to 13 a-side, have 6 tackles while generating free-to-air TV money to spend on juniors and to receive more exposure?

"he wasn’t wearing his usual face either" .... :stoked: On the NZ coverage Davies' absence was noted long before kick off.

just a few things??? Peyper made his mind up pretty early I think. The AR Paul Williams also added ...it was always backwards. Peyper was rather dismissive of the TMO I thought.

Here's your problem....not all think it was obvious.

It was like the end of The Wallabies v Wales game it almost appeared the referee was deliberately wasting time. At least 3 times he kept saying "we'll go again and get this right" or something to that affect. He should have just penalised one of the damn teams and gotten on with it but it looked like it may have been Wales who should have been being penalised so..... !!!!

Oh dear.. into the grassy knoll again

Peyper pay back for Welsh referee Derek Bevan' s appalling bias towards South Africa in RWC 1995 semi-final against France. Louis Luyt then President of SA Rugby awarded/rewarded Bevan with a gold watch!

All good, I just assume everyone on here is drunk all the time anyway. You're absolutely right, the French did deserve to win. I can only explain it as some kind of karma from the semi-final in 2011, which was weirdly similar to this - Wales down a man from a red card, battling valiantly, a kick hitting the post, desperately unlucky to lose by 1 point

On a related matter, I was taught that after having a player sent off, you must MUST win your own scrum - that is, you put a back into breakaway on your own feed. France packed a scrum on their line with only 7 players. The result was a disintegration. It will haunt them for ever.

"Davies has come out with an unusual face on today"

Strongly agree. A similar situation occurred just before half time in the England-Australia match with the Wallabies pressuring the line. For wise props out there, would a defending team work for resets: e.g. front row standing up to complain in the hope of the ref giving a lecture to both scrums to eat up more seconds? Why not stop the clock as soon as the ref indicates a scrum, then restart the time when the ball is won-penalty given? Trying to grow the game is too frequently hampered by outdated approaches to the sport.