Warren Gatland cursed what he called a “terrible mistake” by the television match official at Twickenham as Wales suffered a fifth successive Six Nations defeat by England.
Wales were 12-0 down in the first half when their full-back Gareth Anscombe looked to have won a race to the ball over England’s line. The New Zealand television match official, Glenn Newman, was asked to adjudicate and ruled that the ball had not been grounded.
“I cannot understand why the TMO did not award the try,” said Gatland, the Wales head coach, whose side lost 12-6. “You could see on the replay that Gareth got there first, got his hand on the ball and grounded it. It was a big moment in the game and he got the decision wrong.
“The TMO had one big call to make and he made a terrible mistake. I cannot do much about it now, but guys have to get those decisions right. It looked pretty clear-cut to me.”
Gatland felt England should have played the last five minutes with 14 men after Mike Brown conceded a penalty for knocking the ball out of the scrum-half Aled Davies’s hands. “He should have had a yellow card, but all we got was a penalty. I am very proud of the players who were positive in difficult conditions.”
The England head coach, Eddie Jones, had a lot to say before the match but was quieter after the 24th victory in 25 Tests since he took over. A team that has tended to win matches in the final 20 minutes this time held on after scoring two in the opening 19.
“It was a win built around the courage and belief in the team,” said Jones. “We knew we had to play a certain way to win with a short turnaround after Italy and the execution was outstanding by the players. In any Test match there are key moments, and Sam Underhill’s tackle [on Scott Williams withy 19 minutes to go] was one of them.”