“Where does he want him to go?” – Peter O’Mahony fuming with referee decision
No try.
Ireland eventually claimed a thrilling 36-33 victory in Sydney thanks to Tom Clarkson’s late match-winning score, but one of the biggest talking points came just before the hour mark when Sheehan looked to have powered over from close range.
After a lengthy TMO review, referee Ben O’Keeffe ruled the try out, deciding that James Ryan had illegally prevented Rob Valetini from making a tackle in the maul.
Speaking on Virgin Media’s live coverage, O’Mahony made it clear he felt the officials had got the call badly wrong.
“I just think it’s way off,” O’Mahony said.
“I mean, where does he want him to go? He’s in a maul, he’s allowed to be on the pitch, where does he go?”
“He is never, in a month of Sundays, going to tackle him. It’s irrelevant.
“It’s because they’ve done so much damage to the Australian pack, Jack Conan’s got around the corner, so now probably 5 or 6 of the Aussies are either on the ground or irrelevant, and you’ve still got maybe 5 or 6 Ireland players standing up.
“It looks almost like a set new maul, but it’s not. They’ve just done so much damage, and they’re around the corner.
“James Ryan’s still looking up to see, ‘Is there someone going to come in and hit me?’ He thinks, ‘I’m part of the maul,’ and he just stands up.”
Fortunately for Ireland, the controversial moment ultimately proved academic, with Clarkson crashing over late on to secure a memorable victory.
“So are you saying we are disallowing the try?”
The TMO takes another look and spots obstruction in the Irish maul.
Dan Sheehan’s score won’t stand.
What do you think of the call?
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