Campbell demands IRB inquiry into crucial throw-in gaffe

FORMER Irish star Ollie Campbell has called for a thorough and transparent inquiry into Wales’ try at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

Campbell, like most of the country, is still trying to figure out how South African referee Jonathan Kaplan and Scottish touch judge Peter Allan failed to pick up on an illegal throw-in for the disputed score.

“It certainly needs to be investigated by the powers that be,” he said.

“Nothing will change the fact that the try was allowed. The match has finished and we’ve lost but I would imagine they (International Rugby Board) would be very conscious of something like that not happening again. The point was very well made by Declan Kidney after the game when he said there were a lot of people employed to avoid these sort of things happening and that’s a very well made observation.”

Campbell doesn’t expect a public apology from the officials but said he would expect the referee to be interviewed to find out why it happened.

“It needs to be pursued. I don’t know what the protocol is in these matters but it can’t just be left unanswered.

“It certainly was a defining moment of the game. It certainly was a momentum-changing moment in the game. We did have our chances to win it subsequently but it was the defining moment of that game and in some ways it might be even the defining moment of our season in this championship.”

Irish captain Brian O’Driscoll was still coming to terms with the effect the score had on the game. The skipper chose his words carefully but wasn’t impressed by the decision or, indeed, Kaplan’s dismissive attitude when questioned.

“I didn’t see it myself but when it happened but when half your team are saying someone touched it, you take their word for it. I tried to relay that to Jonathan Kaplan but he was having none of it.

“Essentially, I went over to him and he was pushing everyone away and I told him that I was the captain. He said he wanted to talk to his assistant but, before anything else could be said, the try was awarded.

“I did mention to him subsequently, a couple of minutes later, and said that video footage had clearly shown somebody had touched it and that it was a massive momentum swing in the game but he just shrugged that off.”

O’Driscoll believes Ireland would have gone on to win the game, notwithstanding his concession that they didn’t play particularly well.

“It’s very frustrating. We didn’t play brilliantly today but I thought we were in reasonable control. Four points up and we didn’t feel under any huge pressure even though we had given away a couple of penalties.

“Test matches are won and lost on very small moments and when a big moment like that happens, it’s a big momentum swinger. I suppose we never essentially recovered from being behind then.”

O’Driscoll believes the incident could have been brought to the attention of the TMO (Television Match Official).

“I don’t know what the ref is thinking. I’m not trying to get into his head but if that (the TMO) is there, I don’t understand why he wouldn’t cover every avenue when it was clear it was going to have a big impact on the game.

“If I was wrong, I personally would be embarrassed all right because, like I’ve said, you have the services there to cover all bases.

“Games hang in the balance on such decisions, you get them wrong and everyone is human, wrong calls are made the whole time, but certain ones are a little bit unforgivable.”