From The Terrace

Never too high, never too low 💙🖤🤍

Team for Newcastle 👇 💙 Really surprised by how strong this is. Expected far more rotation (only Lawrence and Kepu really rested?). But I suppose next week gives the time to rest 🤍 Great to see Max back, and some minutes for Cam. Having one of them at 12 is so key for our attack 🖤 We need a statement win to get back on track #COYB

Gutting for Horse after he looked back towards his best against Saints and Bordeaux. More encouraging about Max and Hennessey though 🤞🏼 somersetlive.co.uk/sport/other-sp…

Saturday’s results make today a huge opportunity for Bath. A BP win would take us top, with breathing space to third and all but sew up a play-off place. It’s going to be a properly tough test but this (and our last two games) should mean we have no shortage of motivation #COYB

Team for Sunday 👇 💙 Really the look of this. Great to have Cam and Big Joe back 🖤 5-3 split but tonnes of power on the bench. Interesting who will cover 8 - will we see Ted Hill there? (Or even Kepu?) 🤍 Butt and Lawrence key at 12-13 This feels like a really important game. A third loss in a row puts pressure on the run-in. But a win gives us breathing space and (with Newcastle next) allows us to give first-teamers two weeks off before Bristol, Leicester and the play-offs. Reckon we’ll be raring to go after last week #COYB

Think the biggest learning from Bordeaux is decision-making. We sometimes kept it tight too long (20+ phases), sometimes went wide too quickly (on 2nd/3rd phase), and too often picked and went without support. There’s a separate challenge around execution in key moments, especially at the lineout. But if we use Sunday’s experience to sharpen our decision-making (and there’s no one I’d rather have making those calls than Spence and Finn), that’ll be the biggest positive takeaway for the Prem run-in

Amid all the noise, shoutout to Louie Hennessey who was superb in the biggest game of his career. The future is bright

Breaking down what happened with the French TV director, the ref, the TMO and me on comms for the game on our podcast @TheRugbyPod

So which is it? Did officials have all the angles they needed and not look at them, or not demand them of the producers? Or did the producers in Bordeaux not produce all the angles expected in a massive semi-final? I keep hearing contradictory assertions by people I trust.

@MacSheoinin_ @Ed_Dodgson x.com/recterrace/sta…

@Ed_Dodgson @RecTerrace The TMO will only communicate with a TV director during an onfield review, when the TMO requests a specific angle be shown on TV, for the benefit of the Ref’s review.

“No clear head contact” #UBBvBAT

“There’s been lots of people on social media saying: ‘of course they get the [TV] angles’. They don’t. There is a TV director employed, in this case by FranceTV who broadcast the game in France, who is the gatekeeper of the clips and he or she can decide which ones go to the TMO. That is what was in place yesterday.” Recommend listening to the full explanation and discussion (18’30” to 34’15”) from @willgkelleher @AlfredReynolds5 and @CharlieFelix, which is balanced and insightful as ever. Regardless of your bias, this inconsistency can’t be good for an elite sport. 🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/4JF8F6…

JvG shares his immense frustration at missed high tackles during Bath’s defeat to Bordeaux-Begles

@Ed_Dodgson @MacSheoinin_ I think this is the point. I’m genuinely not sure he is sat in front of a wall of monitors - which they obviously should be. I think they are reliant on what the TV directors give them

@MacSheoinin_ @RecTerrace Happy to be proven wrong - I know at international level the TMO has more control, but in the prem they are in the hands of the director. No idea about Europe, maybe more transparency needed

If we do go all the way in Europe in the next few years, this experience will be a big reason why. Keep the faith 💙🖤🤍

BORDEAUX 38 - 26 BATH Wasn’t to be but we fought to the end. Some basic errors but they felt forced by pressure from a very good team. Spencer looked injured and Finn was quiet, but we shouldn’t underestimate how good Bordeaux are. All chips on the Prem now! 💙🖤🤍

Because it’s a big decision that the ref may have got wrong and they didn’t seem to spend any time looking at it. Genuine question - do we know that the TMO checked it in the background? The referee never said he had. Is he not reliant on the TV pictures and so maybe didn’t check it?

@RecTerrace So why post it then? Do you not think the TMO looked at it in the background?

* To be clear, we didn’t lose because of the refereeing * But it’s mad that we didn’t look at two high shots on Barbeary, two decisive knock-on calls, a completely different threshold was applied for red zone yellows, and TV replays overturned some decisions but not others. The TV director genuinely played a bigger role in that game than the actual TMO. It makes rugby look amateur #UBBvBAT

So decisions can be reversed from TV replays then 🙄 #UBBvBAT

@MacSheoinin_ Maybe not. But there’s definitely enough of a chance that there is that not looking at it from another angle is ridiculous

@RecTerrace These is no clear head contact in this video.