Meantime away from conspiracy we had a case wherein the excellent Tommy Bowe was tackled before the goal line and then endeavoured to put his hand on the ball over the goal line to score a try. Because he was inconvenienced by a premature tackle, he was unable to do so.
I forget the exact wording of Kaplan's question to the TMO but I think that he asked if a try had been scored, and also if an illegality had occurred. The TMO said no try had been scored and dead panned when he added that there was no illegality over the goal line. Nor was there - the illegality was before the goal line and was therefore an incident in an area in which the TMO was not permitted to comment on. Officially.
The Kiwi commentators brayed on not appreciating what the TMO had done: played a straight bat.
Kaplan must have been aware that something was amiss else he would not have asked the question he did. He should have asked the touchie nearest to the play if he saw anything untoward. Maybe he did and got a response that didn't help.
My point is that the TMO protocol doesn't cover this case. If Kaplan thought something may have been remiss but the incident may have been before the goal line, and the touchie was no help, he couldn't get the TMO to help him.
As one has mentioned half a dozen times France has dispensation to use the TMO in domestic rugby for an incident before the goal line, provided the ref has spotted it, or been advised about it, and asked the question - and it doesn't matter if it was 30 metres out, so long as it was in a movement in which a try had been scored, or was unable to be scored.
The automatic response to suggesting this be brought into all pro rugby, including test matches, would be that it would take too much time. It doesn't. You can watch heaps of Top14 games without realising that France has this dispensation.
I think Kaplan would have used the TMO and asked about the incident before, or after, the goal line, but he was constrained by the present protocol from asking about what happened before the goal line, as was the TMO from answering a question that was not asked.
Change the protocol IRB, or at least trial the French method just to see.