This week, the focus is on Dan Sheehan, after Jac Morgan’s play was deemed legal. The victory of the British and Irish Lions in the series of matches, the first since 2013, was marred by Sheehan’s citation by Adrien Menez, from the independent World Rugby committee, on Sunday morning.
The Lions failed to complete the sweep against the Wallabies, who won 22-12. The Australian team, this time, didn’t let a 15-0 lead slip away, and Joe Schmidt’s team achieved their goal on an intense night at Accor Stadium.
A 38-minute interruption due to a downpour and lightning threatening the Olympic venue may have affected Australia’s quest for victory, who were leading 8-0. At that moment, James Ryan was taken off the field due to a head injury and the game stopped. However, the Wallabies took advantage of the break to head towards a victory that would boost their morale.
The victory became even more satisfying after the loss of Tom Lynagh, another young fly-half, due to what appeared to be a dangerous action by Sheehan, the Lions’ hooker.
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt praised the bravery of his young number 10. However, this time he chose not to stir up controversy, unlike the previous week, when he criticized the decision not to penalize Morgan’s action.
The omission of the incident by the Television Match Official (TMO) Marius Jonker should be a concern for World Rugby and match review officials, as the images of Sheehan impacting Lynagh, defenseless, with his right shoulder quickly spread on social media.
Lynagh was removed from the field for a concussion assessment just before halftime and did not return.Análisis del partido Australia vs. British and Irish Lions.Schmidt stated after the match: “I haven’t really analyzed it well. The match ended, I have great respect for Dan and there are some things like that that happen in a physical confrontation.”
“With Tom, he’s still young and we’ll try to take care of him and make sure he’s fully fit after taking that hit.”
While TMO Jonker overlooked Sheehan’s hit on Lynagh, despite the number 10 being removed from the field for a concussion assessment, the South African intervened in several less relevant incidents.Tom Lynagh abandona el tercer test en Sídney para una evaluación de conmoción cerebral.One of them was to highlight a loose ball from a Lions turnover, shortly after the game resumed following the weather interruption, when Wallabies scrum-half Nic White was able to disrupt the movement of the visiting backs line.
The players, the fans and even referee Nika Amashukeli seemed puzzled about exactly what Jonker was trying to highlight.
Schmidt added: “Yes, again, I take out the fine-tooth comb and review the match afterwards [for another look]”.
“Live, we didn’t see Tom’s incident and probably saw it a little later and that’s all I’ve seen so far, so I prefer not to comment until I’ve seen it [properly].
“But there’s always a difficulty for a TMO, I suppose. He’s watching the main television broadcast and if he doesn’t catch it there, then he doesn’t access the other angles because everything happens very quickly.”
The Lions coach, Andy Farrell, said that “he hadn’t seen that” when asked about Sheehan’s incidents and then pointed out that there were “all sorts of rugby incidents that we could analyze”.
The hearing for Sheehan’s citation will take place on Sunday, in accordance with World Rugby’s “accelerated off-field sanction process”.
