World Rugby admits TMO error in ruling out Gareth Anscombe's try

World Rugby admitted on Tuesday that Television Match Official Glenn Newman made an error in disallowing Wales' Gareth Anscombe a try during the recently concluded Six Nations encounter against England at Twickenham.

Wales head coach Warren Gatland called TMO Newman's decision as "a terrible mistake" after the replays suggested that full-back Anscombe appeared to have got his hand on the ball just before England winger Anthony Watson.

The decision proved vital as Wales went on to suffer a 12-6 defeat - their first this season that saw them slip to the third position.

Wales assistant coach Rob Howley said World Rugby's Alain Rolland confirmed that the wrong decision was made.

“I know Warren Gatland spoke to Alain Rolland, and they confirmed that the TMO made a mistake.” he said.

A statement released by World Rugby further acknowledged that the TMO official made a wrong 'application' of the law denying Anscombe a try.

“World Rugby has clarified to the Wales team management as part of the usual review process with teams that the TMO made an error in the application of law during the England versus Wales match at Twickenham.

“In accordance with law 21.1 b, Wales should have been awarded a try as the Wales player grounded the ball.”

Meanwhile, Howley said the conversation with World Rugby on the issue provided some consolation as they now prepare to face Ireland in Round 3 at Aviva Stadium on 24th February.

“It was good to have dialogue with World Rugby.

“It (the incident) has happened. It is disappointing that happens in professional sport, but we focus on the next two weeks and getting ourselves ready for Ireland.

“There was plenty of time after that decision. We had a couple of opportunities which we should have taken.”

Earlier, Anscombe said he was convinced that he grounded the ball and the decision proved decisive in the result of the game.

"I felt some pressure of the ball on the ground," said Anscombe, who was a late replacement for Leigh Halfpenny following his withdrawal due to a foot infection.

"I thought that I got it down, but the decision didn't go our way.

"That was disappointing because it potentially would have changed the momentum, but ultimately it was still early on in the game and we had a lot of chances to fix it.

"The TMOs don't always get it right, which is frustrating, but you can't do much about that.

"We were confident once we saw the first replay and started jogging back.

"We trust the TMO. You've just got to back the individual to use the replays and communicate well with the touch judges and the referee, then hopefully they get the majority of them right.

"We had a rough start and didn't come out of the blocks well, so going back to the sheds at 12-7, it would have been a different ball game."

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