“Biggar Cajoled The Referee. If I Was Owen Farrell, I’d Have Felt Like Walking Off The Pitch”
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Cajoled.
Former England international Austin Healey reckons Dan Biggar “cajoled” referee Pascal Gauzere in Wales’ win over England last weekend and says he would have felt like “walking off the pitch” if he was Owen Farrell.
Two incidents in the game that led to two Wales tries have been hot topics all week, with the likes of Nigel Owens and Gauzere himself admitting that they were the wrong calls to make.
And now writing in his column for the Daily Telegraph, Healey has added his two cents by suggesting Dan Biggar was in Gauzere’s ear on the day “cajoling” him to let the outhalf take the quick restart when England clearly were not set.
Healey said it was very clever” of the Northampton man and dubbed the officiating as some of the worst he’s seen in 30 years of rugby.
“That was some of the worst officiating I have seen in my 30 years in rugby. This isn’t sour grapes. We don’t know what the outcome would have been had Wales not had a 14-point headstart,” Healey wrote.
“Most of the England team had their backs turned to Dan Biggar, who I’m not criticising at all, by the way, he almost cajoled the referee into putting time back on and it was very clever. If I was Owen Farrell there, I’d have felt like walking off the pitch.
“If the referee hasn’t got the respect to talk you through his decision, I’d have wanted to take the tee and said right, off we go.
“We’re not playing with that. It wasn’t even close to being right. I’ve never seen such a bad decision since I was 12 years old and had an 80-metre try disallowed because my laces were undone.”
As for the second incident involving Louis Rees-Zammit that led to Liam Williams’ try, Healey said it was “one million per cent” a try.
“It’s one million per cent a knock-on too by Louis Rees-Zammit ahead of the second try,” Healey added.
“He loses possession of the ball, it hits the ground before possession is regained. It doesn’t matter if it hits his leg on the way down to the ground. He loses control in a forward motion with his hands and does not regain possession, therefore it’s a knock-on.
“Everyone in rugby, in the ground, at home… there are amoebas in the sea who know that was a knock-on.”