‘Turning point’: Wales skipper Dewi Lake, coach Warren Gatland fume over TMO call in loss to Wallabies

Wales captain Dewi Lake believes a disallowed try was the wrong call and a turning point in his side’s loss to Australia. Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt can’t see what the fuss is all about.

Wales were adamant James Botham scored a crucial try in a tight Test against the Wallabies. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Wales have slammed the decision by match officials to disallow a rolling maul try they feel was crucial to their loss to Australia, but Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt advised them to “get on with the game”.

Wales replacement forward James Botham crashed over from a rolling maul in the 57th minute, moments after Filipo Daugunu had put Australia 18-13 ahead with a try.

Had the try been awarded, it would have given Wales the chance to hit the lead with 20 minutes remaining, but they were never able to reel in the Wallabies who eventually won 25-16.

The try was initially awarded by referee Pierre Brousset, but was reviewed by television match official Marius Jonker. Replays showed Welsh flanker Tommy Reffell making contact in the ruck with defender Rob Valetini, but Welsh skipper Dewi Lake said the move was executed perfectly and try should have been awarded.

“We got our detail right, the officials made the call,” Lake said.

Immediately after the game, Lake said on Sky Sports: “It’s always tough when you’re stood on the halfway line ready to receive a kick-off and the try gets chalked off but you can’t argue with a decision from the officials.

“But it felt like a turning point for us and a big blow getting us back in to the game.”

The old Wallabies did their best to sabotage Joe Schmidt’s first match in charge, but in clinching victory against Wales the team buried some demons of the past.

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Wales coach Warren Gatland also expressed his frustration at the call.

“We’ve got to get some clarity on the disallowed try,” Gatland said.

“We’ve created chances but we also hurt ourselves, we are where we are in terms of not getting 50-50 calls.

“I’m not sure how that lineout was called not straight, it’s a scrum to Australia, they end up scoring off that. They knock on, we kick out on the full and he said ‘That’s your advantage’. We played against South Africa last week, we knock on, Kwagga Smith kicks out on the full and the ref says ‘No advantage’.

But Schmidt believes the officials were spot on.

It was a frustrating night for Wales. Picture: Jason McCawley/Getty Images

“It’s really clear, the law says whoever rips the ball has to be connected to the jumper and there’s clear air there,” Schmidt said.

“There are four match officials who made that decision, not me, so I’ll just leave it with the match officials.

“But it looked pretty unequivocal in their mind.

“Those are the decisions we don’t have any control over. Jake Gordon goes very close to the line, and the guy trying to clean him out is Rob Valetini and he just gets tackled off the ball, and sometimes those things happen and you’ve just got to get on and play the game.

“I’ve had some experiences last year [with the All Blacks] where you felt you didn’t get the rub of the green, and even outside the rules, but you’ve just got to wear that and get on with the game.”

Gatland suggested that the Wallabies were deliberately slowing the game down at the end of the match due to their lesser fitness levels.

“I thought Australia were trying to get their breath back and slow the game down, trying to control the tempo of the match,” Gatland said.

The win is only Australia’s second in Sydney since 2015, and marks a winning start under Schmidt, who took over from Eddie Jones, whose World Cup campaign last year was essentially ended by a record 40-6 loss to Wales.

New Wallabies captain Liam Wright said the win “reinforces what we’re trying to do and work on.

“We’ve tried to build a lot of connection, and that [win] reinforces a lot of good things.

“It’s a lot of reward for hard work.”

Originally published as ‘Turning point’: Wales skipper Dewi Lake, coach Warren Gatland fume over TMO call in loss to Wallabies