Scotland demand answers over ‘incorrect TMO call’

Scotland have directly challenged World Rugby after they were controversially denied a match-winning try in their Six Nations clash against France at Murrayfield in Edinburgh.

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Gregor Townsend’s men were 20-16 in arrears going into the final minute when they won a turnover and got to within touching distance of the line.

Scotland star Sam Skinner then crossed the whitewash but referee Nic Berry could not see whether the ball had been touched down. However, instead of simply asking the TMO to rule whether it was a try or not, Berry made the tough call by ruling that no try had been scored.

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This then forced the television match official Brian MacNeice, to look for clear evidence to overrule the on-field decision. But even though one camera angle appeared to show the ball rolling off a France boot and onto the ground, MacNeice remained unsure and stated that he couldn’t find clear evidence to overrule Berry’s original on-field call which went against the Scots.

Scotland were angry over the call with Townsend adamant that the match officials got it wrong.

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SCOTLAND ADAMANT WORLD RUGBY HAS SOME EXPLAINING TO DO

He repeatedly reiterated their belief that Skinner grounded ball on the tryline and that Scotland should have beaten France and revealed that they will therefore seek to get some clarity from the governing body as to why it was disallowed.

“The TMO influenced the referee more [with the final call]. They have quite a big screen in that corner, so it should be the referee that decides,” the Scotland boss told reporters.

“I don’t think I am being biased here to say the ball was put on the try-line, I think everybody sees that. It’s how we get to the correct decision.

“If it was held up and we’re here going that we’re gutted to have been held up to win a game, that would have been the right decision. But for us it clearly wasn’t the right decision that they came to at the end.

“It doesn’t really matter. That game moves on. We’ll get feedback, we do regularly, and that’ll be one of some incidents we’ll ask for clarification on, but it doesn’t change the outcome, unfortunately.”

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