Try in Romania vs Tonga match a reminder of why TMO is important

Recent internationals in the PNC and RWC warm ups have lacked a TMO, and it's resulted in match deciding calls going wrong. Most recently last weekend in a close game, Romania unluckily conceding a try in the corner that shouldn't have stood.

Very often the TMO is derided and the recipient of complaints of taking too long or used too often. Those are often both valid points, how often do we have to go through 5 slow motion replays to confirm an obvious decision?

But it's a very good job they are there though, as in recent matches in the Pacific Nations Cup or Rugby World Cup warm ups where their presence hasn't been consistent has resulted in some match deciding decisions going wrong.

Back late last July, Fiji and Japan played in a close match decided by 5 points, a match that included a try from Metuisela Talebula after an obvious knock on missed by referee Pascal Gaüzère and his assistants.

Now last weekend, Romania as underdogs didn't play their best ever match, but defended bravely to kept Tonga to a hard fought encounter. The match in the end though was decided by a try in the corner from scrum half Tane Takulua, that on the replay showed his legs were quite clearly in touch.

The Romanian players were understandably unhappy at the decision by the touch judge (a linesman for Mathieu Raynal who we couldn't work out who he was), and remonstrated with the referee who was again Pascal Gaüzère, but were simply told 'there's no TMO, it's your fault, it's not my fault'.

Earlier in the PNC, although this didn't effect the result, there was also an incident where Samoan wing Alesana Tuilagi asked for a TMO to check for a no arms tackle from the last defender USA's Danny Barrett.

Now it's hard to see who the blame lies here. All these matches were broadcast, and had a range of camera angles there for a TMO. So why wasn't there a TMO? Does the blame lie with the host Union or WR for not providing one? How difficult is it just to find someone to watch replays on a screen and then report back to a ref?

It can't be to do with not being able to afford to fly one over, as WR hasn't required the TMO to always be from a neutral country. There was a TMO for the entire Nations Cup tournament last June, and it was Vlad Iordachescu. There was a TMO added for the final round of the PNC, and it was a local USA official for all three matches including the Eagles one against Canada.

So the complete inconsistency of the ability for a TMO to be present is baffling, and played a role in the results of two matches just over the last month or so, and shows that despite the complaints of the usage of the TMO it's always better to at least have one than not.