Scotland will not lodge a complaint with the Six Nations over two controversial moments in their defeat to England, Telegraph Sport understands.
The starting position for Finn Russell’s potential match-winning conversion after Duhan van der Merwe’s try was moved by referee Pierre Brousset of France. There were 13 seconds left on the 60-second shot clock when Russell took his kick from near the touchline, whereas Van der Merwe appeared to have put the ball down in line with the five-metre line close to the touchline.
Earlier, England’s only try through Tommy Freeman was awarded by Brousset, although it was difficult to see during the later replays whether Freeman had successfully grounded the ball. The England wing later sheepishly smiled when asked by journalists if the ball was down.
Footage released following the final whistle showed that Russell was told to move his conversion attempt wider by Brousset.
It is unclear whether the spot for the conversion was moved following an instruction from the television match official, Quinton Immelman from South Africa, or whether Brousset opted to move it himself.
The former Scotland captain Kelly Brown, speaking to Telegraph Sport, believes that the decision to move the spot for the conversion was a mistake.
Brown said: “Clearly a mistake has been made there. I don’t know why it’s been moved wider, I don’t know if the TMO has told him to move it wider or not. But, clearly, where the kick is taken from is not in line with where the try was scored. That being said, [the game] probably shouldn’t have come down to that. We had opportunities earlier, to be honest.”
As Russell was initially preparing to take the conversion, England captain Maro Itoje could be seen approaching Brousset, with Itoje shepherded by Van der Merwe as he approached.
Brown believes that the clock on Russell’s conversion should have been stopped when Itoje approached given the disruption to Russell’s preparations.
“Maro as the captain is entitled to go up to the referee if he has a question. I don’t know what his question is, I don’t know if it’s a bit of gamesmanship. That would be a question for him,” noted Brown, who is a coach at Saracens. “Potentially the clock should have been stopped, because Finn then didn’t have a lot of time. Finn’s an excellent kicker, he trains very, very hard at it. He just had a day where he potentially wasn’t as accurate as he can be. He will be frustrated by that and practising unbelievably hard.”
Regarding Freeman’s try, Brown added that while “it looked like it was held up”, it was comparable to the dramatic finish between Scotland and France in last year’s Six Nations where a late Scottish try was not given. “The referee has the best view out of anyone in the stadium and he thought he saw a grounding. I don’t think there was enough video evidence [to prove that it was not]. If the referee has said it’s grounded then we have to go with the ref, his decision is final.”
Gregor Townsend, the Scotland head coach, did publicly express his frustration with a penalty against the Scotland co-captain Rory Darge and centre Tom Jordan for lifting England’s Ben Curry at a ruck and dropping him to the ground, with Townsend saying “I just don’t know how that’s a penalty”.
Brown added: “In my opinion, it’s a bit harsh. They certainly didn’t tip him, he wasn’t above the horizontal and didn’t get speared into the ground or anything. They cleared him out and just let go of him. I didn’t think it was a penalty. And it just so happens that the kick then made the difference, which is why we are talking about it so much.”
The loss at Allianz Stadium leaves Scotland with only one win from their first three games of the championship, having lost to Ireland and England with games to come at home to Wales and away in France.
“I was really more gutted than normal on Saturday because I thought Scotland did everything apart from win the game,” Brown said.
