Lets take the last penalty tri in the game. Liam williams went in with his left hand to push the Africian in to touch, he then came in with his right hand and it got compressed in the tackle, hence he used his hands in the tackle. He did not shoulder barge as only Steve Waksh made out: he used his hands, if the south african player got a knock for is troubles " SO WHAT" its a physical game!.
Firstly;
It was a stone cold penalty try, all day long, every day of the week. Tacklers
must wrap their arms. They are not allowed to simply line up the shoulder on the opponent's head and neck area and take him out like that. Leading with the forearm does not mitigate the fact that it was a straight up shoulder charge that was probably deserving of a red card as well.
Secondly;
The question was initiated by the assistant referee in that corner, and referred to the TMO, and
all three officials came to the penalty try decision
together.
Thirdly;
There is only one person to blame for this, Liam Williams himself. He was there in time to execute a legal tackle that would likely have put Cornel Hendricks into touch. Even if Hendricks had scored, it would have been in the right corner with a right-footed kicker having to convert from the right sideline.
I have to say that this was
great use of the TMO and replays, and excellent refereeing all round. Once Walsh was happy that it was foul play, he asked the TMO for the exact angle he needed to determine whether a try would probably have been scored, and explained clearly to Alun Wynn Jones about the "beam him up" rule. He also made sure that he and the TMO were on the same page before awarding the try. If only all match officials would be this thorough with critical decisions.
And lastly, if Walsh was cheating for South Africa, how come he awarded Wales that try just after half time. There is no way on God's green earth that was a try. The ball was knocked out of the Welsh player's hand by Green 8's upper arm. If Walsh really was cheating, here was an opportunity for him to rule in favour of South Africa by disallowing the try, and no-one would have questioned that.
