The denouement of this match will be remembered as one of the most dramatic in a competition that has seen more than its fair share of them but European Professional Club Rugby officials have admitted it should not have come to pass the way it did. Connacht won when they kicked a penalty to touch after the 80 minutes was up and drove over the subsequent lineout for a try whose touchline conversion clinched a famous win for the home team, leaving Pool 2 poised in a three-way tie with two rounds remaining.
But Connacht should not have been allowed to take the lineout.
Jérôme Garcès, the referee, had withdrawn from the match in the 74th minute with a hamstring injury and was replaced by the assistant, Mathieu Raynal. The latter is a Test referee who sent off CJ Stander in Ireland’s first Test in South Africa this summer, Raynal’s first major international, which Ireland went on to win against the odds. He also blew the whistle in Chicago last month, when Ireland beat the All Blacks, but he is not as experienced as Garcès.
He would, though, appear to be a lucky charm for the Irish. Here, with Connacht trailing by five points, he awarded the home team a penalty precisely on the 80th minute. When John Muldoon, Connacht’s captain, asked if they could go for the corner, Raynal said no, because time was up. Muldoon protested that the latest laws allow lineouts to be taken if a penalty is kicked to touch after time. Raynal then appeared to change his mind, agreeing that Connacht could kick for the corner after all.
He had been right the first time and should not have allowed the lineout to be taken. The new laws Muldoon referred to are to be trialled next year, coming into effect on 1 January in the southern hemisphere and on 1 August in the north.
In a statement EPCR confirmed that Raynal was wrong. “The assistant referee awarded a penalty to Connacht after time had elapsed. Connacht kicked the ball into touch and from the resultant lineout, scored a converted try to win the game 20-18. However, as time had elapsed, Connacht should not have been permitted to take a lineout throw-in once the ball had been kicked into touch, as stipulated in Law 5.7 (e) of World Rugby’s Laws of the Game.”
EPCR has also confirmed that the result will stand. Had Raynal stuck with his initial assessment, Connacht would have been able to tap the penalty or elect for a scrum and might have scored a converted try anyway, though the chances of success would have been slighter.
As it is, Connacht drove the subsequent lineout for a try, scored by Naulia Dawai, the Fijian back-row forward making his Connacht debut. That tied the score at 18-18, two tries apiece, in an enthralling contest, which had now graduated to the dramatic. Jack Carty, the only fly-half and goal-kicker Connacht have available in the midst of an injury crisis, landed the conversion from the touchline to complete the evening’s passage into legend.
The result keeps Pool 2 alive, but Wasps retain the advantage. They are tied on 13 points with Connacht and Toulouse, but cannot be overhauled by anyone if they take maximum points from their remaining matches, at home to Toulouse and away at Zebre. Connacht would have to take more points than Wasps from fixtures at home to Zebre and away at Toulouse to pip them to top spot. In the event of a tie, the first deciding criterion is match points in the games between the tied teams. Wasps took bonus points from both Connacht matches, so lead 6-4 on that count. Toulouse are still in the hunt, too, but they have played their Zebre “jokers”.
But the fact will always remain that Wasps most likely would have won this match and thus be in pole position for a home quarter-final but for a referee being talked out of the correct decision by a player. This is a heavy cloud to hang over Raynal and the integrity of this year’s competition.
Connacht O’Halloran; Adeolokun, Parata, Aki, Healy; Carty, Marmion (Blade, 74); Buckley, McCartney (Hefferman, 64), Bealham (Carey, 62; Bealham, 70), Dillane, Roux (Stevenson, 72), McKeon (O’Brien, 54), Fox-Matamua (Dawai, 74), Muldoon (capt).
Tries Poolman, Dawai Cons Carty 2 Pens Carty 2.
Sin-bin O’Halloran 24.
Wasps Miller; Wade, Macken (Leiua 66), Beale (Halai, 74), Bassett; Gopperth, Simpson (Robson, 54); Mullan, Taylor, Cooper‑Woolley (Moore, 59), Launchbury (capt), Myall, Johnson (Reider, 72), Young, Hughes (Thompson, 64).
Tries Simpson, Bassett Con Gopperth Pens Gopperth 2.
Referee J Garces (France; M Raynal, France 74). Attendance 8,090.
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