IT
ENThe Croke Park final had an Italian protagonist off the pitch too: Andrea Piardi, referee of the Leinster–Bulls clash. For him it’s a record — four consecutive URC finals refereed, something no one had ever managed — and, as often happens in finals, the only real controversy of a one-sided evening grew around his whistle.
What the Bulls disputed
The crux is the two tries disallowed to the Bulls by the TMO. In the second half the South Africans cross the line twice — through Harold Vorster and Ruan Nortje — but both scores are wiped out by the video review, with fellow Italian Matteo Liperini on TMO. Marginal episodes, sure, but in a final they weigh: and according to DanPat, who commentated on the match live, in both cases the grounding could have been awarded.
On the first, he says, “the grounding was there”, with at most the doubt of a finger under the ball. On the second, a fine move finished with a reverse pass, the problem was the chosen camera angle: from one view the ball seemed to go forward, from another it didn’t.
The yellow cards
On the disciplinary side, the final saw three yellows, all for deliberate knock-ons to stop play: two for the Bulls — Canan Moodie in the 2nd minute and Willie le Roux in the 26th — and one for Leinster, with James Lowe sent to the bench in the second half. One standard, in the end, applied to both teams.
The verdict: excellent first half, some blemishes in the second
DanPat’s summary is clear and balanced: a brilliant performance in the first forty minutes, some more debatable calls after the break, often on decisions coming from the TMO rather than the on-field referee.
He was excellent in the first half, he was incredible in the first half, in the second half a little less so.
But there’s one fixed point that puts every protest into perspective: the final 36-7 tells of a match never in doubt. The South African grumbling, in short, doesn’t change the substance: the Bulls would have lost that final anyway.
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