Wales coach Gatland blasts TMO for 'terrible mistake'

A frustrated Warren Gatland accused TMO Glenn Newman of making a “terrible mistake” in disallowing a Gareth Anscombe try during Wales’ 12-6 defeat to England in the Six Nations.

Two early scores from Jonny May ultimately proved enough for Eddie Jones’ men in greasy conditions at Twickenham, with the visitors limited to two penalty goals, from Rhys Patchell and Anscombe, thereafter.

However, Wales coach Gatland was left unimpressed by a controversial first-half incident, in which Anscombe looked to have grounded the ball cleanly ahead of England’s Anthony Watson, only for the TMO to rule ‘no try’.

“It looked like a try to me. Everyone else that I’ve spoken to that has seen it, it looks like a clear try,” said a stony-faced Gatland in his post-match news conference.

“To me, it’s disappointing that you get that decision wrong and it’s such a pivotal moment in the game, such a big decision.

“They flew a guy over from New Zealand to do a TMO. He has one big call to make and unfortunately I think he’s made a terrible mistake. At this level, that’s pretty disappointing.

“I just struggle a bit on the wording, because I listened to it and he [Newman] said England got there first and there’s no clear downward pressure from Wales. Well, I saw that completely different. I thought Gareth got there, his hand was there and clearly there’s downward pressure.

“You can understand that people make mistakes, but that looked pretty clear-cut to me. We were surprised when the decision came.”

FULL TIME: ENG 12-6 WAL | Huge desire from both sides in a brutal contest at England HQ, which goes the way of the hosts. Cystadleuaeth hynod o gorfforol yn Twickenham. Diolch am eich cefnogaeth. #ENGvWAL pic.twitter.com/Q5TVQph746

— Welsh Rugby Union 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@WelshRugbyUnion) February 10, 2018

Wales, who also came agonisingly close to grabbing a try in the second half as Scott Williams was denied by Sam Underhill’s last-ditch tackle, suffered a major blow before kick-off when Leigh Halfpenny was ruled out with an infected foot – an injury that resulted in Anscombe being promoted from the bench.

“He was walking around a bit today,” said Gatland of Halfpenny. “It was quite swollen yesterday, but hopefully he’s going to be alright in two or three days.”