Refereeing decisions annoy Johnson

MARTIN JOHNSON was left bemused by refereeing decisions that ended England's chances of a Six Nations grand slam on Saturday.

The team manager did not lay the blame for a narrow 20-16 defeat to reigning champions Ireland squarely at the door of South African official Mark Lawrence – he could not given England's inability to create chances against the resolute Irish.

But after Jonny Wilkinson's drop goal had nudged England to what would have been a third straight win, the grand slam hopes were dashed when Tommy Bowe sliced through lapse cover for his second try.

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England had one last chance and after winning a lineout, drove the ball more the 20 metres into Ireland's 22.

But when Ireland finally halted the drive, both England's players and management were stunned to discover that referee Lawrence had not awarded them the put-in at the scrum for not releasing.

"I thought we were going to score at the end," said Johnson. "When you have gone 25 yards and they have tried to collapse it three times already, it is a huge call to give Ireland the scrum.

"I don't know why we didn't get the put-in. If they are taking guys out of the maul illegally – even if they don't actually collapse it – it is still a penalty, it has a material effect.

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"Maybe Mark has got a reason, I will talk to him. I don't want to labour the point because we lost the game but it was a penalty to us before it even got to that point."

He had earlier been irked by the decision to reverse a penalty awarded against Tomas O'Leary after the eager Danny Care had wrestled him to the ground trying to get the game moving again. From the resulting penalty, Keith Earls crossed for a second try for the clinical Irish.

"It was a sloppy penalty to give away that gave them a chance to score the second try," said Johnson.

"Games turn on things like that, we've been there and we know that.

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"We didn't think it was a penalty though. Danny was trying to get the ball to inject a bit of tempo into the game."

The defeat leaves England staring at another average Six Nations campaign unless they can return from the hostile environments of winless Scotland and grand slam-chasing France with victories.

"I am not into saying we deserved to win because you get what you deserve in this game – but it was in our grasp," said Johnson.

"We are a work in progress and we'll be better for this game.

"We have now got to keep that hurt feeling for two weeks and release it at Murayfield. There's still a lot more in us."