RFU to review Saracens TMO controversy and two more rugby talking points

A change is as good as a rest? Opinions naturally differed as the Premiership returned after an eight-week break while the Six Nations was on.

There were surprise results on Friday as leaders Northampton Saints were beaten 52-21 at Bristol Bears while lowly Gloucester won at Leicester Tigers for the first time in the league since October 2007.

Then on Saturday, could one team claim to be rusty while the other was not, as Saracens blew Harlequins away 52-7 in front of 61,214 spectators at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and Exeter Chiefs ran in four tries in the first half of their 25-16 victory over the still winless Newcastle Falcons.

Premiership returns after Six Nations break

For Bristol’s director of rugby Pat Lam, the Premiership break – a first this season, enabled partly by the reduction last year of 13 clubs to 10 – was “a real opportunity to build on the things we wanted to. We have fine-tuned all areas of our game.”

While his Leicester counterpart Dan McKellar said: “I don’t think I’ve been more disappointed after a loss, just to lose at home.

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“Collision-wise, we were off the pace a little bit. We allowed them [Gloucester] to offload and they won the loose ball on the ground. All of a sudden, it’s an unstructured situation and guys like [Zach] Mercer thrive off that.”

As for Saracens’ Mark McCall, there had been relief in getting away from the “demanding” season.

“We had 21 games in a row before we got the break,” McCall said. “So it was needed from my point of view and it was nice to have weekends free and not have to worry about results. But it was also nice to be back playing again.”

It’s a different format in the United Rugby Championship, which had two rounds during the Six Nations, while leaders Leinster won 31-7 at Zebre on Saturday without their main Ireland players, who are likely to return instead for next week’s meeting with second-placed Bulls.

RFU to review TMO controversy

The Rugby Football Union and Premiership Rugby are under pressure to explain if TV commentary has been influencing referees’ decisions following an incident involving the television match official during Saracens’ win over Harlequins.

In a statement the RFU, which is in charge of all match officials, confirmed the second-half exchange involving TMO Stuart Terheege would be part of a routine review at the start of the week.

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Social media users observed that Terheege appeared to decide not to review potential foul play because it had been highlighted by TNT Sports commentator Austin Healey, after a collision between Harlequins’ Stephan Lewies and Saracens’ Owen Farrell.

A source within the RFU referee department told i on Sunday that TMOs have never been influenced in their decisions by commentary they may have heard.

i has been told TMOs will sometimes overhear the commentary, but it depends upon their position within the broadcast truck. They do not have headphones on, listening to the commentary.

The key element of the situation that unfolded after Lewies collided with Farrell off the ball as Juan Martin Gonzalez scored a try in the 67th minute was a voice believed to be Terheege’s being heard, unintentionally, over the TNT Sports broadcast.

A scuffle had ensued between Farrell and Lewies, and Healey, who was working with co-commentators Nick Mullins and Lawrence Dallaglio, says: “Owen Farrell being upset, and it’s worth another look.” Almost simultaneously, a voice believed to be Terheege’s can be heard asking for a replay of the cause of the scuffle, while Healey continues: “I think [number] six slides into the ruck really late with both of his knees. Where he hits Farrell could be really interesting.”

After that, the voice says: “The problem I’ve got now of course is it looks like Healey has instigated it, yeah?” Then there was a pause, possibly while the on-field referee Christophe Ridley was giving an unheard reply, then the voice says: “Yeah, mate the problem I have got now, it looks like Austin’s instigating it, because we’re late, so I don’t want to talk about it, okay?”

Then as another replay angle is being shown, the voice can be heard saying loudly “Come on, don’t show it because…” before the feed from the microphone carrying his words cuts out. Healey says: “That’s a yellow card, all day long.”

Replying to a post on X, Healey wrote: “Think the TMO has had better days looks like ego got in the way of ruling on foul play.”

Professor John Fairclough of player welfare group Progressive Rugby said: “Whatever the reason, it is clear a decision has been taken to ignore foul, reckless or dangerous play because of concern that it had been highlighted by a pundit. This is hugely concerning and a clear dereliction of a match official’s duty to ensure player safety. An explanation should be sought as a matter of urgency.”

Saracens eye possible replacements for Owen Farrell

Farrell’s game management and six conversions out of eight against Harlequins were reminders of what Saracens will lose when the fly-half goes to Racing 92 next season.

The Premiership champions have been linked with Crusaders’ 24-year-old Fergus Burke, who has yet to play in this year’s Super Rugby due to an Achilles injury, and Newcastle’s 20-year-old Louie Johnson.

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McCall said: “We pride ourselves in being well-planned and this [Farrell leaving] came out of the blue. Owen was under contract so there was no need for us to be looking around. So we heard late in the day from a recruitment point of view.

“But it has been a fascinating project trying to find the right person. Hopefully we will have some news in the next couple of weeks. We wanted someone we believed had the potential and the personality to be part of this team for a while.

“We have got a very exciting young group of players, from the ages of 22 to 28, some international players in that from various countries and some great home-grown players as well. We wanted to find someone who would grow and we think we have found the right person.”