Best Six Nations Game EVER | The Rugby Pod Analyse Ireland vs France 

The independent six nations production team in charge of the game confirmed that the TMO had access to all angles and footage. So the national broadcaster had no involvement.

The Lowe try wasn’t, and shouldn’t have been awarded. However, Ireland should have been awarded a penalty try for a no-arms tackle on Lowe. That would have given Ireland 7 points, instead of the 5 they got. So, a poor decision for Ireland!

Very enjoyable games over the last 2 weeks. Ireland, France were both superb, but massive props go to Scotland. They are everyone's second favourite team now. They are so good to watch. Keep up the good work lads.

This is a great pod, cheers lads!

Rob Herring never made it back on the pitch - Antonio was back 10 mins later

Natural chemistry is this Pod. Love it.

One of the incredible things from both sides was how few knocks-on there were despite lots of off-loads and intense physicality

Really enjoy the podcast and been looking forward to this one dropping. Utterly Brilliant game, the French are just deadly in broken play and the match against a free running Scotland should be a belter for the neutral. But in regards to the Lowe try, first of all, it's been made clear multiple times now since Saturday that the TMO had all the angles, including that rear shot, at his disposal. To ensure independent feed, the 6Nations themselves set up the TMO with all available cameras in the ground, no matter the broadcaster Therefore the TMO missed the shot that ITV had, that was on his feed the entire time. So this was an officiating glitch. On top of that miss, as plenty of people keep pointing out, Barnes and the TMO were so focused on the grounding that they missed the blatant no arms tackle on Lowe by Penaud...immediate penalty try grounding or not...and that is down to Barnes.

Apparently the TMO used to be seated beside all the production team, so could communicate with the director, but now they are seated in a booth with an assistant which creates a break in communication. Penauds tackle was not a tackle, it was a shoulder led lunge, which pushed Lowe further over the line, so a penalty try was definitely feasible. Also no-one seems to have picked up on an obstruction by Fickou on Mack Hanson when chasing his own kick, which led to the chaos allowing space for the Penaud try. I would say on balance, things evened out, France only managed 57 seconds in the Ireland 22 all match, by comparison Ireland were 5.5 minutes in France 22 in the first half.

The French defence was good holding up Ireland. So many times.I just can’t see any other team doing that ?

Can argue penaud shoulder charged no arm tackled Lowe while his foot was in touch, if so would be peno try

I thought there are question marks over France. They were well beaten in the end admittedly by a fantastic Irish side. They were lucky that they were not dead and buried by half time and in the first 40 they only spent seconds in the Irish 22. I expected them to push Ireland more.

Guys - Roll the tape back & you will see DuPont tackles Hanson before he touched and lifted he ball. Only a split second but enough to give him leverage. H initial effort was to lift the ball. Had the tackle been seen would have been a penalty / poss. penalty try. Also Gael F obstructed Hanson’s follow up run before their brilliant try. All these things balance out at the end of the day.

In 10 years time we will thank Wayne Barnes for creating a classic. Yes it was a red but what a game.

On one angle it looked like Lowes foot was in touch but in another angle the foot looked like it was in the air and not in touch. Great finish though. How on earth did Dupont hold Hansen up like that??? Superhuman

Being in Ireland, couldn't see what ITV showed at half time, but I haven't seen any video footage from the rear angle, only images. Did ITV show video of that reverse angle that shows the foot in touch, because Birch said on the 42 podcast he thought that was a camera photo not a tv camera angle, so wouldn't have been available to the TMO.

Wow, why did I even expect footage! 😂😂😂

Some French players were in poor form ( Aldritt plays 80 mn every game with La Rochelle in a championship which is like a marathon) but even at their fittest Ireland would be too much to overcome, it was clinical how they put the french down. Dupont was a beast. At the end he was too tired and a bit injured hence unable to go to the press conf, i reckon it shows the incredible intensity of that game.

never a try by Lowe, but a no-arms tackle would have led to a penalty try and 7 points as opposed to the 5.

How has the ref and tmo not seen the no arms tackle on Lowe which is a penalty try?

For some reason I still LOVE the England v France game - Robshaw captain - chasing a 20 point gap for the title I believe it was? Ended up being something like 40 - 30. Great game.

According to rte the (broadcaster) the tmo had the angle available just didn't look at it for whatever reason

Lowes try is questionable, but the picture that Goodey is referring to is not at ground level, so gives a wrong impression, however the other pictures show his foot touching the grass , which i believe is considered to be in touch.

Was an incredible game but we could have used TMO Andy in the house to sort stuff out.

Anyone complaining about an Irish foot in touch has a prety short memory

Barnes and maybe the whole adjudicating ticket had decided to keep the game flowing and maintain a fair contest 15 v 15 so no red card for Antonio and he knew instantly to disallow Lowes' try would require a penalty try and a red card for the offender.

No arms tackle on Lowe, so..... Also, the France Ireland game in Paris, 45 phases with a huge drop goal by section to win it??

I'm Irish and I thought Dupont was MOTM. The man is an absolute freak.

Had this game been played in France I would fancy the home side. I don't think there's that much between them. Great rugby is a spectacle though- bealhams pass...pernaud indovìduality....my god the hold ups...how on the heck was Hanson stopped....ringrose the stiff arm to push a guy back into two players preventing them from a tackle (and fickou had been magnificent).

Brilliant game served up by two brilliant teams. Pity that Wayno left his chops at home, he just missed so much it’s not a joke…

Lowes try could have been given as penalty try as Duponts tackle looked like an illegal no arms tackle.

Lowe's try was legal ref

The video team select the views; the TMO is housed elsewhere. Neither Barnes nor TMO to blame. Not only was Atonio's tackle high, but his right arm wasn't rapped. Earlier he wasn't penalised for late tackles

Great assessment. From Ireland, both seriously wrong decisions by Barnes. Would have been a shame if there had been a send off though, we probably would have won, 14 against 15 and it would be a good excuse for the result by the French.

His foot was Not in touch .

Rugby analysts on about James lowe try and his foot being in touch and saying it's not a try but it was a no arms tackle so a peno try and ye experts didn't even mention that

Was a very good match. But I'd also say Italy Vs France in round one was up there.

I think what Barnes meant was that Antonio was in more of a bracing position than a dominant one

Has Jim backed Scotland to beat Ireland yet

Doesn't really balance itself off - if France are down to 14 Ireland probably win that game easier even if Lowe's try is chalked off.

The diff on 6 nations is that the director is giving the image on demand, in other competitions, the TMO has ALL the images, so the tv director is the 5th ref, that's insane !

Lowe's try was a gem

Ireland is the best team in the world and is the logical favourite for the World Cup!

4 tries, held up 4 times over the line, dupont keeping Hansen out. Should've had 9 tries while playing without Sheehan, Furlong, Gibson Park and Henshaw.... Fuck 👀

And dumortier tackle? It was a try for France, poor decision too

THANK YOU for mentioning Lowe's foot being in touch!

Great game but I realised when I re-watched that game after the excitement was over that this game was won by half time. Ireland were as comfortable as they were against Wales and the bonus point try was as inevitable as the 4th try there too. Apart from the breakaway try, France only spent 57 seconds in Ireland's 22. That was the worst attacking performance of any 6 Nations team this year including Italy and Wales. The French drop kick was a white flag, they surrendered to the Irish defence. Scotland, if they play as they did against England and Wales will beat France in a couple of weeks. France are not the team people think they are. They won't win this competition and they won^t win the world cup.

Lowe Try was correct as would have been a penalty try and yellow card for an illegal tackle

Clear and obvious lads!!! It was a try!!

So you discussed French offloading, a French try and a couple of refereeing decisions. Ireland win comprehensively and all you talk about is France.

Two lads spending 11 minutes talking about how great France are. I suppose Ireland can take that as a compliment, given that they were the winners.

England Scotland 2019 was a better match

Not the best 6N game by a long stretch. Characterised by mistakes from both teams.

Irish friends enjoy your victory but don't try to justify all referee mistakes