This year's iteration of the Six Nations Championship has been the worst for quite some time, with the standard of play along with the limitations of Ireland, Wales and France contributing to a turgid arm-wrestle that will soon to be extinguished from memory.
Another contributing factor has been the standard of refereeing, which has been uncharacteristically awful throughout the championship. Referees, TMOs and citing commissioners have all been guilty of some serious oversights throughout the tournament. Examples include the failure to punish both Yoann Maestri (for his late and cynical hit on Johnny Sexton) and Mike Brown (for raking his studs across Conor Murray's face).
There was a further failure of officiating during Saturday's game between England and Wales at Twickenham. Referee Craig Joubert referred to the TMO following an allegation that Welsh prop Thomas Francis had eye-gouged England's Dan Cole. The TMO subsequently reviewed the video footage and despite the evidence clearly showing that Francis had made contact with Cole's eye, the TMO awarded just a penalty, citing the fact that just one camera angle was available to him. A bizarre decision, given the fact that the one angle available to him was clear. Joubert did not choose to overrule his TMO and a penalty was the only punishment.
Proof that this was an incorrect call arrived today, as a Six Nations disciplinary commission have confirmed that Francis has been banned for eight weeks for the offence. Here is the statement released which confirmed the ban:
The disciplinary committee, having considered all of the evidence, including various clips of TV footage, and listened to representations by, and on behalf, of Mr Francis, found that he had recklessly made contact with the eye or eye area of an opponent, which had been worthy of a red card.
The disciplinary committee heard submissions on sanction before concluding that the offending be characterised as being at the lower end of World Rugby's scale of seriousness for this type of offending, which has an entry point of 12 weeks.
The disciplinary committee was then required to consider aggravating and mitigating factors, which it did before concluding that the appropriate sanction be a playing suspension of eight weeks.
The commission had the same angles available to them as Joubert and the TMO, which makes their failure to dismiss Francis all the more mystifying.
