Seething Scotland rugby chiefs demand bungling officials admit they got it WRONG with France no try award

Scotland want World Rugby to admit the bungling match officials cost them a precious Six Nations win over France.

Ropey ref Nic Berry ruled out a last-minute try by Sam Skinner on Saturday saying the ball hadn’t been properly grounded. The TMO Brian MacNeice then spent FIVE MINUTES looking at the footage – changing his mind several times before then agreeing the ball had been held up... even though it hadn’t. That decision saw France take a controversial win – and handed Scotland a painful home defeat.

Now Murrayfield chiefs have decided to take it further. They’ve written to World Rugby asking them to admit the match officials made a massive error. They believe the on-field dialogue between the ref and the TMO made no sense as they flip-flopped this way and that. And they’re keen for the game’s governing body to come out and agree the whole episode was handled poorly – in the hope it never happens again.

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend said after the game: “The TMO influenced the referee more (with the final call). They have quite a big screen in that corner, so it should be the referee that decides.

“I don’t think I am being biased here to say the ball was put on the try line, I think everybody sees that. It’s how we get to the correct decision. If it was held up and we’re here going that we’re gutted to have been held up to win a game, that would have been the right decision. But for us it clearly wasn’t the right decision that they came to at the end.

“It doesn’t really matter. That game moves on. We’ll get feedback, we do regularly, and that’ll be one of some incidents we’ll ask for clarification on, but it doesn’t change the outcome, unfortunately.”