To borrow a line from the movie Troy, rugby’s glory walks hand in hand with its doom.
Saturday night’s second Test between the Wallabies and British and Irish Lions was everything one could have hoped for in a Test match. Sadly, instead of reflecting on one of the greatest spectacles in recent memory, played in front of one of the biggest crowds to ever watch an international, the game is almost split down the middle on what proved to be its defining call.
Whether you sit in the red or gold corner, everyone has an opinion on the decision not to penalise Jac Morgan’s clean-out of Carlo Tizzano, the phase before Hugo Keenan’s match-winning try.
And every individual take, be it hot or not, is completely valid. It’s what makes rugby such a global game and drives media interest and engagement, but also exactly what rips it apart when incidents like the Morgan clean-out occur.
But first, let’s not detract from a quality Test match that should have cleared up any question about whether the Lions need to return to Australia in 12 years’ time. The Wallabies played brilliantly in Melbourne, but Australia should have also had this Test sewn up before halftime.
Tom Lynagh’s spilled high ball when Australia were up 23-5, having completely dominated the first half hour and capitalised on Tom Freeman’s yellow card, felt like a pivotal moment at the time. And so it proved as Tom Curry scored from the sequence that followed the ensuing scrum.
Huw Jones’ five-pointer, three minutes before halftime, ripped the momentum away from Australia completely and their inability to score more than three further points after the half-hour ultimately cost the Wallabies the Test.
They had their chances, too, and had it not been for a perfectly timed Curry tackle on Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, after Langi Gleeson had swooped on a loose high ball and offloaded to Fraser McReight, then Australia could now well be setting themselves up for a deciding game in Sydney.
Len Ikitau, usually one of the stoutest defenders in the game, will lament his missed tackle on James Lowe that led to the Tadhg Beirne try. The list goes on.
It is therefore disingenuous to say the decision not to scrub off Keenan’s try on account of Morgan’s clean-out determined the result. There were countless moments that contributed to the Lions locking up their first series win since 2013. But it is also wrong to dismiss the incident completely, as World Rugby has put such a focus on player safety. It’s why Joe Schmidt sounded off, potentially as angrily as he ever has, on a single decision and why Wallabies fans will argue that there was enough evidence to rule that Morgan’s clean-out was illegal and probably warranted a yellow card. Any long-time rugby watcher will have seen any number of collisions like Morgan-on-Tizzano that have resulted in penalties and yellow cards, while there will have been umpteen similar breakdown contests from Saturday’s Test that, with closer inspection, could well have warranted further attention. Much of rugby’s lawbook exists in the grey, but the increased focus on incidental head contact has only further heightened the uncertainty around what does and does not constitute foul play. The term “rugby incident” is often thrown about, but the margins are sometimes so fine that it is incredibly difficult to tell whether any foul play has occurred, or if it has to what extent and therefore which sanction should be handed down. But World Rugby can’t expect supporters to simply “cop it sweet” when incidents like Morgan’s clean-out are deemed fair game. There was more than enough evidence to suggest that there was shoulder-on-neck contact, which contravenes law 9.20 as Schmidt protested. Morgan also had an arm on the ground and lost his feet, too. But it is also completely reasonable to ask what else Morgan, the only remaining Welshman on this Lions tour, could have done, apart from arriving a split second earlier before Tizzano had taken up his position over the ball. Was it serious enough to warrant scrubbing off Keenan’s try and therefore the Lions’ win? Would the penalty have been awarded if it was earlier in the match, when the game wasn’t on the line? Those are moot points now. But rugby fans will debate this one for years to come, while World Rugby struggles to simplify a lawbook that is as complicated as the Morgan incident was contestable. Eradicating every last bit of incidental head contact is simply impossible, World Rugby’s push to do so, while admirable, was always going to create incidents like the one for which an all-time great Test match will now forever be remembered.
