Quote ="The Avenger"I don't know why there's even a shred of controversy about this, it was a clear obstruction.
Tohu Harris stopped in the middle of England's defensive line therefore preventing Williams from travelling out to fill the gap that RTV ran into.
Harris has either got to go on the inside of Williams or if going on the inside of Watkins he must continue his run right the way through the defence, he can not pull up in the defensive line!
I'd even go as far as saying that New Zealand may have done this on purpose to open the defence and role the dice on whether the officials would pick it up, That's a long shot but not beyond the realm of possibility.
If you understand how defences work then even from a laymans perspective you can see it's a penalty. Defences work from the ptb out never the other ways, from the outside moving inward, unless in extreme circumstance where the outside backs have to work together to come in and shut the play down.
This makes Wilkins comments even more strange, he was selling the idea that Watkins had a chance to come in and make the tackle which of course is exactly what NZ wanted him to do, it's the whole point of having decoy runners aiming at the inside shoulder in an effort to get a defender to turn (lose) his hips.
No Try, Penalty all day everyday
Correct decision'"
This.
Like it or not, it was a straightforward application of a rule that lots of people don't seem to understand; including, it would seem, the entire commentary team. Not agreeing with the current interpretation of obstruction doesn't mean that the decision was incorrect - it definitely wasn't.
