Andy Farrell and Joe Schmidt disagree over ref call as Lions clinch series win

Andy Farrell and Joe Schmidt took opposing views of the refereeing call that cleared Hugo Keenan’s decisive final-minute try as the British and Irish Lions completed a series triumph over Australia.

The Lions clinched a 29-26 victory in the second Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground but there was high drama in the closing seconds as the match officials examined a potentially-dangerous clearout by Jac Morgan earlier in the move.

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Captains Harry Wilson and Maro Itoje attempted to influence referee Andrea Piardi during the decision-making process before it was eventually judged that Morgan’s contact with Carlo Tizzano was legal.

If Keenan’s try had been chalked off, the series would have gone to a decider in Sydney next Saturday. Instead, the Lions have taken an unassailable 2-0 lead.

“It was a brilliant clearout. I couldn’t understand what they were going back for,” Lions head coach Farrell said.

“They seem to go back for absolutely everything these days, don’t they? I’m so pleased that the referee held his nerve. The right decision in my opinion.”

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Furious Australia boss Schmidt felt the outcome reached by Piardi was at odds with the game’s push to improve player safety and accused the Italian of failing to implement the laws.

“Just watch the footage,” said Schmidt, who insisted the incident taking place in the final minute influenced the verdict.

“You just have to read law 9.20 and you just have to listen to the description from the referee and then watch the footage when two players are described as arriving at the same time.

“You cannot hit someone above the levels of the shoulders and there’s no bind with the left arm, his hand is on the ground. That’s what we have seen.

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“We have watched a number of replays from different angles so it is what it is. We just have to accept it.

“Players make errors. Match officials make errors. Our perspective is we felt it was a decision that doesn’t really live up to the big player safety push that they are talking about.

Schmidt also placed a spotlight on Dan Sheehan’s 16th-minute try when he took a quick tap penalty and crossed the whitewash by launching himself into the air.

The try was allowed to stand because he dived while in the act of scoring, but Schmidt insisted the fact he was airborne made him virtually impossible to stop.

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“World Rugby are trying to make sure that we are tackling lower and so we had two tacklers going in to tackle low – and he dived and scored,” the Kiwi said.

“He is pretty much head first so what do we do to stop him scoring apart from stopping his head? There’s not much else you can do.”

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Farrell declared that winning the series is “what dreams are made of”, while Itoje targeted a whitewash of the Wallabies.

“When we first met, big Faz made the call. He wanted us to come here and win everything,” Itoje said.

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“So don’t get me wrong, we’re absolutely delighted with the result, but we want to go again next weekend.”

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