Tri-Nations 2011
O'Brien admonishes officials over correct call
ESPNscrum Staff
August 24, 2011
New Zealand's Jimmy Cowan takes a break in training, All Blacks training session, St David's School, Johannesburg, South Africa, August 16, 2010
Jimmy Cowan's try against the Springboks should have been allowed, according to Paddy O'Brien © Getty Images
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Players/Officials: Jimmy Cowan | Israel Dagg
Tournaments/Tours: Tri Nations

International Rugby Board (IRB) Referee Manager Paddy O'Brien that he would rather a try be incorrectly allowed rather than it be disallowed by a Television Match Official who has stepped outside of his jurisdiction.

Reacting to an incident in the recent Tri-Nations clash between South Africa and New Zealand in Port Elizabeth, O'Brien explained that match referee George Clancy had erred in ruling out a try for All Blacks scrum-half Jimmy Cowan on the advice of TMO Johann Meuwesen, who had spotted that the scoring pass from Israel Dagg had been forward.

"The referee and the television match official were operating outside our agreed protocol. That will be addressed with George in our review of the game. It was disappointing and will form part of our discussions when we next meet.

"They [Clancy and Meuwesen] made a call they were not entitled to make. If that means referees miss a knock-on or something else in the lead-up to a try, then that's the way it is. This has all been talked about at the IRB level and that was the decision."

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