Former Scotland captain slams ‘most unfair decision I’ve ever seen’ that could have ‘huge ripple effect’ in Six Nations

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Former Scotland flanker and captain John Barclay has described the decision not to award his country a match-winning try against France as the “most unfair I’ve ever seen”, after Saturday’s loss at Murrayfield.

The home side insist they had clinched a miraculous victory courtesy of Sam Skinner’s courageous effort after he forced his way over the try-line.

However, following a lengthy television review, referee Nic Berry had no choice but to stick with his original decision of not allowing the score as there was no conclusive evidence that the ball had been grounded.

Decision denied Scotland title shot

Barclay is upset that the try was disallowed and claimed the decision denied Scotland a potential first ever Six Nations title.

Boos rang out around the stadium from the home supporters as Les Bleus’ players celebrated a narrow 20-16 victory. That means Ireland and England are the only unbeaten sides left in the Six Nations.

And Barclay feels “it may very well be a title procession” for the men from the Emerald Isle during the rest of the tournament.

Writing in his column for The Times, Barclay claimed the ball was clearly grounded and the five-pointer should only have been disallowed if it was “defying the laws of physics”.

“I have never seen anything quite like it,” he wrote. “I played in games where a try was given and you knew you had been under the ball, but I never experienced anything that felt so gratuitously inequitable as what we all witnessed with the final play of the match at Murrayfield on Saturday.

“I just don’t know how, as a sport, we can get it so wrong when the footage exists to show ball meeting grass with Sam Skinner’s hand planted on top. That ball is on the floor, and if it is not, it’s defying the laws of physics. For me, that’s the only way it couldn’t have been a try.”

Barclay then shared the opinion of Nigel Owens who “agreed that it looked for all the world like a try” and Sam Warburton who “reckoned he could see 95 per cent of the ball on the ground”. A fuming Barclay also said: “As we know, it only needs some part of it to be in contact with the ground for the score to stand.”

He added that he would have been equally angry if France were not awarded a try in similar fashion, and argued it was a “terrible look for the game” as he asked: “Where on earth are we as a sport if we’re not giving scores that we’re 95 per cent confident about?”

Similar sentiments from Scotland coach

Barclay’s anger echoes similar sentiments from Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend, with many rugby fans and pundits also calling for change. Shortly after the Scotland v France match, La Rochelle boss Ronan O’Gara summed it up by saying: “Is there any other sport where the officials have such an impact? Too many rules/ laws… too complicated.”

With the Championship taking a break this weekend, Barclay believes that Scotland will find it difficult to process their loss to France ahead of their next match against England at Murrayfield on Saturday, February 24.

If they had beaten Les Bleus, it would’ve set them up nicely for the rest of the tournament and victories over England and Italy would then mean the Scots’ clash with Ireland on Saturday, March 16 would be a straight shootout for the title on Saturday, March 16.

But Barclay feels the decision not to award Scotland’s try against France will have a big impact on the rest of the tournament.

“A mistake like that can have a monumental impact, a huge ripple effect, in the context of such a short, sharp tournament where you don’t have many chances to make up lost ground,” he wrote.

“It feels like it may very well be a title procession for Ireland now, whereas had Scotland’s win been rubber-stamped, a very different perspective would have emerged.”