In a shocking admission that is bound to make his officiating life difficult in SA‚ Australian referee Angus Gardner admitted to making an error by not penalising England flyhalf Owen Farrell for his illegal tackle on Springbok centre André Esterhuizen recently. Gardner won World Rugby’s referee of the year award in Monaco on Sunday and was speaking on former England centre Will Greenwood’s podcast. In what became the last play of England’s 12-11 win against SA at Twickenham on November 3‚ Farrell tackled Esterhuizen without wrapping his arms around the Bok centre. According to law nine that governs dangerous play in the World Rugby law book‚ point 16 states that a player must not charge or knock down an opponent carrying the ball without attempting to grasp that player. In that Test‚ repeated replays showed Farrell made no attempt to grasp Esterhuizen. “I think in hindsight now‚ having discussed it with other referees and having had some mini-camps post that game‚ a penalty should ...
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