Why England's only try against Scotland was so controversial

TWICKENHAM — You could forgive Tommy Freeman for being a little sheepish.

The 23-year-old was grinning from ear to ear a few hours after his try had helped England beat Scotland at Twickenham for the first time in eight years.

His score was the only one Steve Borthwick’s men managed in a 16-15 win, their other 11 points coming from the boot of Marcus or Fin Smith, and given the margin of victory was a solitary point, Freeman’s fourth international try was an important one.

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But should it have counted? Finn Russell, Tom Jordan and Pierre Schoeman were all grappling to get hands and legs between the ball and the ground, and no replay seemed to show clearly that there had been a grounding of the ball.

Referee Pierre Brousset, making his Six Nations and Twickenham debut, had quickly awarded the try so the television match official (TMO) would have had to find conclusive evidence to overturn the decision. Tual Trainini, the TMO on duty, did indeed check the grounding, but backed up the referee.

“The referee, right there, was pleased he saw the ball on the ground,” said former England lock Ben Kay on ITV’s coverage.

“I think a few Scottish players felt they had their hands underneath.”

He added, on replay: “Is there a grounding? The referee came round, he felt he could see the point of the ball on the ground.”

On the BBC’s radio commentary, World Cup-winning scrum-half Matt Dawson questioned whether the pace of the play had been too much for the referee – a Six Nations rookie – although the same could surely not be said for the TMO.

Borthwick said he hadn’t seen Freeman’s try, and would let the referee make the calls on the pitch. His opposite number Gregor Townsend did his best to be diplomatic in the aftermath, but did admit that the rest of the backroom staff were unhappy.

“I didn’t really look at it, I heard the [other] coaches say it wasn’t grounded,” Townsend said. “But I was on to the next thing which was a kick-off.”

On BBC Scotland, former international prop Peter Wright did not mince his words. “There is no evidence that that ball ever touched the ground,” he fumed. “It was not a try.”

So what about the try-scorer himself, probably the only man in the world who really knows?

When asked if he had got the ball down, Freeman smiled and said: “The referee awarded it therefore I grounded it so…”

How much of the ball? “As much as the referee saw, at the end of the day,” Freeman added. “He awarded it so that’s the end of it and I’m not going to say anything different.”

When later asked again, the 23-year-old said: “Referee said I got it down, I got it down. I felt like it went on the ground. So yeah, it went on the ground…”

While Scotland fans may feel aggrieved at the seven points Freeman’s “try” earned England, the hosts were playing under penalty advantage on the goal-line, so would have got the ball back even if the winger was ruled to have been held up over the line.

Perhaps more to blame for the defeat was the wayward right boot of Russell, who ended the day with a kicking record of zero from three after missing all his conversion attempts, including one in the 80th minute that would probably have given Scotland victory had he not pulled it left of the upright.

Russell was majestic with ball in hand and, as Townsend was at pains to point out, played a role in creating each of the three tries.

But the fly-half and co-captain will nevertheless rue the misses and probably wish he had already landed one on the day when he was trying to slot the crucial, last-minute conversion.

“That’s what you train for. You train to put the other kicks already in the day out your mind,” said Chris Paterson, Scotland’s all-time top points-scorer.

“You stick to your process, and you get firmly into your process. Finn takes pride in that. I think he was 27 out of 28 kicks in last year’s Six Nations.

“But in that position, you take the moment out of it, you take the score out of it, you take the time out of it, and you stick to your process, which is easier to say than do, but you try and replicate what you train for.

“Don’t forget, you have 79 minutes of fatigue and of physicality in your body as well. So it’s a tough one to take. Finn will certainly be disappointed.”