MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt spoke about the “wicked backlash that sport can have” after his team was denied victory in the second test against the British and Irish Lions on Saturday by a last-gasp try.
Hugo Keenan slid over in the corner in the last play of the match to give the Lions a 29-26 win after they had trailed 23-5 in the first half. The Lions hold an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
Schmidt asserted Keenan’s try should have been disallowed because of an illegal cleanout on Wallabies backrower Carlo Tizzano at the breakdown from which the try stemmed.
Tizzano was stooping over a ruck, attempting to win a turnover, when he was struck on the back of the neck by Lions flanker Jac Morgan, arriving late and fast at the breakdown.
The referee considered replays of the incident before ruling the players had arrived at the same time, ruling out a penalty and awarding the match and series-winning try to the Lions.
“We led for 79 minutes and I couldn’t quite believe that we didn’t get a decision at the end to lead for 80,” Schmidt said in a television interview.
“That’s the wicked backlash that sport can have sometimes but I’m incredibly proud of the performance the players put in.
“I think it was described as arriving at the same time and we can all see that was not the case. We can all see clear contact with the back of the neck which might be a different decision on another day and another time.”
Lions replacement flyhalf Owen Farrell, son of head coach Andy Farrell, was on the field when the incident occurred and saw it from a different perspective.
“When I saw it, and I’ll speak honestly here, I thought there’s no way that (a penalty) is going to be given,” Farrell said. “Obviously there will always be two sides to the story.”
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