Bristol Bears director of rugby Pat Lam has bemoaned the absence of TMO in a typically feisty West Country derby, which produced one red card and two yellows and could lead to further disciplinary intervention by the RFU.
Bears opened up the 2022/23 season with a narrow and thrilling 31-29 triumph over their South West neighbours but having outscored Bath by five tries to two, the margin of victory could and should have been greater.
A large part of that was down to the niggly aspect of the game and the penalty count (21 in total, with Bristol conceding 12), as 19 of Bath’s points from the boot of Piers Francis, and Lam admitted his side got dragged into a slow attritional contest at times, particularly after the break.
That was after Bath replacement Niall Annett, who wasn't even on the field, was sent off following a scuffle in the corner following Luke Morahan’s try towards the end of the first half, while Bears lost Callum Sheedy for 10 minutes after his part in the incident. Bath had previously seen centre Will Butt sent to the bin for kicking the ball away at a ruck after Rich Lane had made a break.
There was no TMO present at Ashton Gate due to the rescheduling of the game from the original Friday night kick-off. Lam believes technology would have likely cleared Sheedy of any indiscretion as the Wales international was caught up in the 38th minute melee that followed Morahan’s score.
Sheedy pulled Tom De Glanville away from Harry Randall and then was brought to the ground by Francis, taking De Glanville with him, as teammates on both sides then further waded in and three separate scuffles broke out.
Both teams will be nervously awaiting any developments from the RFU as they review the game, and that particular incident just before half-time. Annett will receive an automatic citing following his red card.
Lam also questioned the decision to award Tom Dunn a try in the second half as the Bath hooker was ruled to have touched down through a sea of bodies with Bears confident they had held the ball up. With no TMO to check, the assistant referee's view of the situation and his recommendation proved final.
“No one is going to remember all the niggle and stuff. I said to them at half-time, let’s not get caught into what’s happening out there and just get five points and that’s what’s in the record books,” Lam said.
“We knew it was going to come and once you have no TMO, that’s unfortunately what’s going to happen - a lot of niggle, a lot of off the ball stuff. Callum Sheedy got yellow carded and if you have an TMO look at it, 100 per cent he wouldn’t have been, and that was in a period of time that was crucial.
“I think if you look at the try down here, we’ve looked at the footage, there’s nothing conclusive but the assistant referee said he saw it so we have to go with that. I know a lot of people talk about the TMO but when you don’t have it, it makes it difficult.”
Bristol’s charge, literally and figuratively, was led by Ellis Genge with the prop touching down for their first score of the game with a wonderful break through open field.
Although the narrative was of the Bristolian making a clear and very defined impact on what was his second debut for the club, Lam admits it was as much of a team try as it was a piece of individual brilliance from the England international.
“I showed the boys at half-time,” Lam added. “Everyone has gone to the right zones, everyone is in the right places and the reason why Ellis runs on that line, why there are holes available, is because people are in the right spots and there’s options everywhere.
“I thought he was going to put Kyle (Sinckler) through, but he read the cue and did a great job. It was a great start for him scoring but, what I was highlighting was, that’s us on the training pitch - everyone doing their jobs, which creates the opportunity.
“Unfortunately, after that, we weren’t able to get many chances, our own fault turning balls over, pressure from Bath, discipline - we were getting hammered on the penalty count and we just needed to guts it out.”
