The Western Force have kept their dim hopes of a Super Rugby Pacific top-six finish alive with a 19-15 victory over the Fijian Drua in Perth on Saturday — but the referee's whistle and the TMO's screen have stolen the post-match headlines.
Two calls in particular will be picked apart in the rugby fortnight to come. The first was a try awarded to Force back Lomax late in the second half, scored from what television replays suggested was a clear forward pass from a teammate inside the Drua five-metre line.
"This was clearly a forward pass," Wildkard told viewers in his round 15 review. "You can see the ball travel out of the hands forward. The player is on the five-metre line, and Lomax caught the ball way ahead of the five-metre line. This should be a no-try."
The second moment cut the other way, and arrived in the 50th minute. With the Force chasing a Lomax cross-field kick, Drua winger Cabe Valentini — younger brother of Wallabies flanker Rob Valentini — slapped the ball dead in-goal with no covering defender between him and the line.
"This should be a penalty try," Wildkard argued. "Maybe you could say a defender is coming through, so this should be a yellow card at least. He just knocked the ball out dead. That's not rugby — that's rugby league. Rugby league, you are allowed to do that. He didn't actually make a motion to even catch the ball. The referee just said play on."
The Drua were also reduced to 14 men for what Wildkard noted is the fourth consecutive week, after No. 13 Tui Tupou was binned for cynically slapping the ball out of a Force halfback's hands at the breakdown.
"Again, he was in the ruck on the ground, stuck his hand down, slapped the ball off the hand of the Western Force halfback. There's no choice but a yellow card. You really can't do that against the Reds if you want any chance of winning the match next week."
For all the controversy, the win lifts the Force to a position where their finals door remains cracked open. The Queensland Reds, four points clear in sixth, host the Drua in Suva next Saturday in what is now a straight playoff for the last finals seat.
"The Western Force are still mathematically a chance to get into the top six, especially if the Drua can pull off an upset against the Reds," Wildkard said. "The Moana Pasifika almost put up an upset today against the Reds. If it wasn't for Jock Campbell winning that try at the end, Moana could have had a massive upset."
There were positives for the Drua. They built more than 20 phases against a 14-man Force defence after Tupou's yellow card. The breakdown was strong — turnovers that diffused Western Force attacking sets were among the best on display in round 15. Their wingers caused problems in broken play.
But fatigue in the front row, a string of disciplinary lapses, and a curious in-game decision to kick three points instead of going for a try when the Force were down to 14 men, ultimately tilted the contest.
"When the team kicks the three, mentally the kind of switches off a little bit," Wildkard observed. "It worked for the Fijians in Fiji. It just didn't quite work here against the Western Force."
The match stats told the story of strain on both sides. The Force won 222 tackles to the Drua's 102 — and conceded 14 penalties to Drua's nine, a count Wildkard called "very, very high by today's standards."
Drua coach Mick Byrne now faces a one-week turnaround for the most consequential game of his side's season, with their finals fate effectively in their own hands at home in Fiji. The Force, meanwhile, head to Sydney to take on the Waratahs with one final ladder calculation to play out.
