The dust has settled, the terraces swept and Twickenham will be silent as far as Rugby is concerned for several months. On Saturday, the English faithful said  “bon chance” as the business end of the World Cup loomed ever larger on the horizon. But in the Ruck & Maul Bar, site of the regular post-match karaoke party, all the conversation was not about how England had lost or how good the French were.

The talk amongst the fans, including some wandering Kiwis, Boks and Aussies, was the performance of the three match officials and how small errors had led to significant events in the game. Our colonial cousins are all praying that similar decisions will not occur during their teams’ crunch games.

Item 1 – France are attacking and have a good position just inside the English 22. England stray offside and the arm of Irish referee Alan Lewis shoots out, signalling an advantage to France. A couple of phases later, however, Raphael Ibanez decides he’s going to throw a punch at 'Ronnie' Regan – clear for all to see. Now Ronnie’s no angel and France’s No.2 must have thought that he had been fouled in some way. But the whistle goes and Mr Lewis goes back to the spot where the offside had been seen.

'Our colonial cousins all praying that similar poor decisions will not occur during their teams’ crunch games'


Whereas I don’t question the off-side decision and Mr Lewis may not have seen the punch, his touch judge should have, it was only 20 metres away from him. Foul play, whether it be by the instigator or the one who retaliates, is a penalty and in this scenario, the penalty should have been reversed. If the punch was not seen by either Mr Lewis or his touch judge, a season ticket to Spec Savers will be in the post tonight. The result, three points to France and nothing happens to Mr Ibanez.

Item 2 – England are defending inside their 22 but have possession. They decide to rumble their way into a better position before feeding the scrum-half. A rolling maul develops and England have the ball. After a few seconds, Mr Lewis shoots out his arm; advantage England. The maul rumbles for about another 10 seconds and eventually the scrum-half gets the ball and kicks it into touch, between the English 10 metres line and halfway. The decision is Line Out - France Ball. I would argue that if an offence has taken place whilst England were in possession in a forward moving maul and the ref has indicated 'Advantage England', there cannot have been a knock-on, accidental offside or forward pass by the English. The offence had to have been something that warrants a full penalty. This would have allowed a clearing kick to touch and then the throw in at the resultant lineout. Not given.

Item 3 – and the most damaging decision of the day. The game clock has about ten minutes to run. England lead by one point and are trying to close out the game with a try. They continue to attack close to the French 22, about 15 metres in from the East Stand touchline. As the England ball carrier peels away from the maul, the French defence moves in to halt the advance. One of the defender's arms swings into the ball carrier and the ball is knocked loose by the defender, in the direction of the English goal line, by several metres. Everybody in the north end of the West Stand and those parts of the North Stand who can see the action calls ''knock-on'' but it falls on deaf ears. Play continues and France not only clear their line but now find themselves in a good attacking position which results in Sebastian 'Sea Bass' Chabal crashing over for a well-taken score.

But what about the knock-on inside the French 22 by a French player? Not a little knock-on, a huge knock-on in open space. Minutes earlier Paul Sackey had tackled a French ball-carrier and knocked the ball from his grasp in a forward motion. Knock-on correctly called.

In themselves only small incidents but in the context of the game, potentially result-changing errors. I will give Mr Lewis the benefit of the doubt in Items 1 and 3 but not Item 2. He appears to have been let down by his touch judge colleagues and like the players, let us all hope that these errors are eradicated before the decisions have greater importance and significance than those on Saturday. At the top level, top-level officiating is required. Nothing else is acceptable to the players and the fans.