'It doesn't look great' - Blackett defends TMO over missed eye-gouging incident
Wasps head coach Lee Blackett defended TMO Graham Hughes for not intervening in the potential eye-gouging incident that overshadowed his side’s 20-18 win at Newcastle.
Replays suggested Falcons winger Mateo Carreras made contact with the eye of Wasps’ Josh Bassett in the first half but play surprisingly resumed without any further inspection.
Carreras will instead almost certainly face retrospective action but Blackett says the footage was difficult to assess in quick time, although he also admitted from what he did see that “it doesn’t look great”.
“The first time that I saw the incident was on the TV and I’ve not seen it again, it’s been flagged as a potential citing incident,” he said.
“It doesn’t look great though does it? I can see why the TMO might not have spotted it in 20 seconds but it might have taken five or six minutes to zoom in. Josh Bassett wasn’t the happiest at half-time.”
Looked like a nasty eye gouge by Carreras on Bassett. The TMO can’t come in for foul play after the game has restarted so the fact that Wasps kicked a penalty quickly after the incident means it’ll just be a sighting. That law needs changing for foul play to allow TMO time
— Andy Goode (@AndyGoode10) March 19, 2021
Wasps used the incident as motivation, clawing back a 12-point half-time deficit thanks to second-half tries from Brad Shields and Tom West to snap a four-match losing streak.
“I think where we are at the moment, we just needed to get that win,” Blackett added.
“There’s plenty of things that we could patch over. The only slight frustration is the amount of time we’ve spent in their 22 without taking advantage of it. We seem to be getting held up over the line so many times and it’s at crucial moments in games.
“I’d like to see our conversion rates improve and be a little bit better when we are in the right areas of the pitch. We’ve played in the right areas and put the pressure on them.”
In contrast, Newcastle failed to get out of the starting blocks in the second half and gifted Wasps a route back into the game, with two yellow cards in quick succession.
Greg Peterson and Michael Young were sent to the sin-bin for cynical infringements, helping to wipe out the first-half lead they built through tries from Marco Fuser and George Wacokecoke.
Falcons director of rugby Dean Richards said: “I think the second half is charged with abandon and we gave a few too many penalties and ended up with 13 men.
“It’s always difficult when you go down to 13 men to give them the opportunity to take the lead and we kind of shot ourselves in the foot.
“We were quite pleased with our first-half performance as we started to show glimpses of what we are about. It’s probably the best back five in a scrum we’ve had and it’s not a bad back five when you look at what we had with lots of internationals.
“I thought we were doing really well against a very competitive and combative side and I’m just disappointed that we didn’t get the rewards for the pressure in the scrum.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Always reluctant to blame a coach when losses rack up, but Penney must go. The backline is dysfunctional and the coach must carry the can. No cohesion, no idea and in many cases, minimal skill. The trains out of Roma St depart faster than the ball from Crusaders’ set pieces. Wouldn’t be surprised if the forwards went on strike.
1 Go to commentsAdding to earlier comment. Cullen Grace has been playing great at no6. Lio-Willie , who was on fire a few weeks ago, had a bad game. I think Cullen should have been moved to 8 earlier, Dominic Gardiner on earlier. Feel for Quinten Strange , put in a big shift .
4 Go to commentsWe dominated the scrums Ben Curry was all over pitch again .Surely James Harper got to be one of best English tightheads
1 Go to commentsRoos is a better option at 6 than 8 for the boks. Needs to work on his windgat though.
1 Go to commentsThe Sharks’ 2nd team maybe?
1 Go to comments‘radical’
1 Go to commentsCome back to Christchurch Robbie, please!
1 Go to commentsI think there is zero chance Sam Cane will be selected for another Test. There is simply no point except sentimentality. Razor is not sentimental- ask Wyatt Crocket. Razor is a ruthless selector
4 Go to comments> It would be best described as an elegant solution to what was potentially going to be a significant problem for new All Blacks coach Scott Robertson. It is a problem the mad population of New Zealand will have to cope with more and more as All Blacks are able to continue their careers in NZ post RWCs. It will not be a problem for coaches, who are always going to start a campaign with the captain for the next WC in mind. > Cane, despite his warrior spirit, his undoubted commitment to every team he played for and unforgettable heroics against Ireland in last year’s World Cup quarter-final, was never unanimously admired or respected within New Zealand while he was in the role. Neither was McCaw, he was considered far too passive a captain and then out of form until his last world cup where everyone opinions changed, just like they would have if Cane had won the WC. > It was never easy to see where Cane, or even if, he would fit into Robertson’s squad given the new coach will want to be building a new-look team with 2027 in mind. > Cane will win his selections on merit and come the end of the year, he’ll sign off, he hopes, with 100 caps and maybe even, at last, universal public appreciation for what was a special career. No, he won’t. Those returning from Japan have already earned the right to retain their jersey, it’s in their contract. Cane would have been playing against England if he was ready, and found it very hard to keep his place. Perform, and they keep it however. Very easy to see where Cane could have fit, very hard to see how he could have accomplished it choosing this year as his sabbatical instead of 2025, and that’s how it played out (though I assume we now know what when NZR said they were allowing him to move his sabbatical forward and return to NZ next year, they had actually agreed to simply select him for the All Blacks from overseas, without any chance he was going to play in NZ again). With a mammoth season of 15 All Black games they might as well get some value out of his years contract, though even with him being of equal character to Richie, I don’t think they should guarantee him his 100 caps. That’s not what the All Blacks should be about. He absolutely has to play winning football.
4 Go to commentswhat’s happening to Ian Peel?
1 Go to commentsAs a Crusaders fan , so disappointed , again.But I think Fergus Burke was all class for the Crusaders in his first game since October last year. Fletcher Newell , was so good at prop. Johnny McNicoll has been gold since returning from Wales. Noah Hotham brilliant , in a coming of age second season for the Crusaders.Jone Rova did really well at centre. The end of the game was tough.Sevu Reece , what a game/season in tough times.
4 Go to commentsFellas a balloon
3 Go to commentsBlues B team on display and made no race of it. By far the best team in SR with the Hurricanes barely getting past the winning post. Up the Blues 💙
7 Go to commentsWould be amazing to have Servette Genève reaching this level
3 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can't buy a win this season. Surely Penney's contract won't be renewed. There's still enough talent in the squad that they oughta be winning more.
1 Go to commentsABs captain for 23 seasons. Decent record. Surely nobody will surpass it. Legend. But alas a typo…
4 Go to commentsJust FYI Rugbypass, I for one am tired of your clickbait titles and thumbnails and will be clicking them no longer. Good day.
1 Go to commentsI think Farrell despite all of the stick he gets in the media is still one of if not the best fly half in the world. He is literally the full package. He can kick one of the best in the world, probably has the best defensive game of a fly half in the world and if he wants to he can run, take contact and find an offload to keep the pace of the attack. I dont know why he isnt spoken more about still being one of the best in the world with the likes of dupont. Farrell is the ultimate captain and team leader and is experienced- he has been in nearly any situation you can think of. I still believe due to these reasons that he is England’s best ever player and is still one of the best players in the world.
48 Go to commentsBlues are dominating up front and that’s been a long time coming. They have won the up front confrontation which is where canes, hilanders and act brumbies are also strong.
7 Go to commentsJust watched brumbies v safas game sadly not a show in he’ll thryr anywhere near quarters or semi contention. Admittedly some issues around new comers bot what stands out for me is coaching management, poor game planning and accuracy.
5 Go to comments