Quick Hands
David Wilson (68)
The ball is clearly out of the ruck in that screen shot.
Don't know who put the red line there, but the offside line at a ruck is the hindmost foot of the England team in the ruck, as opposed to a pile of bodies lying on the ground.
IIRC the scrum half had the ball in his hands in that very position for a little bit of time - you'll note that he already has clear possession of the ball and is looking at the defensive line, and most importantly the ball is well and truly clear of the ruck and thus out and able to be played by anyone.
I've yet to see any evidence that the player was offside at all, let alone "clear and obvious" needed to change a decision. Clear and obvious implies to me that one replay would all that would be required because the original decision was so obviously wrong, but we saw the TMO view the incident in ultra slow motion time after time before making a decision. Why replay it so often if it's "clear and obvious"? The only logical reason for repeated replays is not being sure, and with every replay surely the degree of doubt increases.
Get the TMO out of these type of calls. Garces might not have been able to see the screen, but have a look at where he is standing and where he is looking. If he can't tell from there whether White 20 is offside or onside then he shouldn't be refereeing. I would be happy to live with Garces calling him offside right there and then, and happy for it to be play on and an England try. At best it's a 50/50 call. What I don't like is play being allowed to go on, and all the spectator emotion that comes with a tight finish to be interfered with by the TMO.
But let's agree to disagree.
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