The officials could have got it wrong
They didn’t at the end of the Reds v Highlanders game but they could have, because they missed the point.
In the 71st minute the ball comes from a Clan lineout and centre Malakai Fekitoa anticipates a flat pass and runs a brilliant inside line, but he never gets the ball. Instead it is passed behind his back to Nasi Manu who dishes the ball to Ben Smith who passes square-on (what else from him) to winger Richard Buckman.
“The Barracuda” hoists the ball over defenders and it takes a wicked bounce. Ben Smith gets the ball and grounds it in-gaol. Try?
Anthony Fainga’a comes over to referee Andrew Lees whingeing that Fekitoa obstructed him. Poor lamb; he is told to go away.
On the report from the Assistant Referee, Lees asks the TMO, worthy George Ayoub, to check the obstruction. Ayoub remarks that here was obstruction and the defender may have been able to make a tackle.
Obstructionist Malakai Fekitoa
But if he hadn’t had that opinion and the try had been awarded. Would the laws have been well-served?
No.
Why? Because the act of Fekitoa was an act of foul play. He had sufficient time after he realised he wasn’t going to get the ball to avoid Fainga’a, in fact, with the line he was running he could have attempted to step off his right foot to make a break if he got the pill. But what he did was to take a couple of extra steps and turn to protect himself, which executed a shoulder charge to flatten Fainga’a. The lamb was right to bleat.
If that was spotted when no try was on, a yellow card would have been issued every day of the week, but all they were concerned about was whether or not a potential defender could have intervened, but for the obstruction.
It must have been tough to realise there was a cynical shoulder charge in real time when the ball was somewhere else, but on review it should have been noticed.
At least the right decision of no try was made and the penalty given (though in the wrong place) but the Reds would have been ropeable had officials missed the foul play issue and awarded the try because the obstruction was not considered material to it
