England manager Martin Johnson has asked for an explanation from South African referee Mark Lawrence after he made a 'huge call' which condemned England to defeat against Ireland and ruled out any chance England had of winning a Six Nations Grand Slam.
Now that England have lost only France are undefeated in the tournament which has tow rounds still to play.
Ireland won the match after Tommy Bowe scored his second try but minutes before Jonny Wilkinson's dropped goal had put England ahead.
England still had time to score again and responded with a well-organised and powerful driving maul which carried them to within five metres of Ireland's goalline.
When Ireland stopped 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.
England now have two matches remaining but both are away from home in Scotland and France.
"I thought we were going to score at the end. 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," Johnson the England manager told Sky.
"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.
"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."
England also felt the brunt of a pivotal decision early in the second half - to reverse a penalty against Tomas O'Leary - which led directly to Ireland's second try for Keith Earls.
With the match on a knife-edge at 8-6 after 53 minutes, England won a penalty at the scrum but Danny Care flipped O'Leary onto his back as he tried to wrestle the ball from his opposite number.
The penalty was reversed on the advice of assistant referee Christophe Berdos, who Care suggested was keen to "get himself in the game".
Ireland kicked for touch and then won the line out. After recycling the ball Jonathan Sexton fired a pass wide left for Earls to score in the corner.
"Games turn on things like that. It was silly but I don't think it was a penalty," said Johnson.
England however did not sit back and responded with a try from Dan Cole and Wilkinson's drop goal set up England's lead.
Johnson did however did acknowledge that England did not do enough with their mountains of possession and territory to earn the victory.
"I am not into saying we deserved to win or anything like that because you get what you deserve in this game - but it was in our grasp," he said.
"When you are ahead with six minutes to go you need to finish the game off," said Johnson.
"I thought the effort and the character was fantastic. The guys will be upset with themselves.
"We got ahead with six minutes to go and it was disappointing to concede that try at the end. This is a tough loss to take.
"I said to the players they have to keep that horrible feeling inside of them for two weeks and release it at Murrayfield.
"We come back to play Scotland, who will be playing that game to save their championship (after being beaten by Italy).
"Now it comes down to determination and aggressiveness that the players will need to play Scotland."
.jpg)
