Do numbers make things right? Is vox populi really vox Dei? 18 000 fans at Ballymore rejoiced. Is it possible that 18 000 Queenslanders are not as infallible as 50 Frenchmen who, the old song went, could not be wrong?

The Blues put the ball in a  scrum five metres from their line. The ball put in, the scrum slews about and eventually collapsed. The referee stops the proceedings and says: "The Blues had possession; Red ball."

Law 20.4  (g) If a scrum collapses or lifts up into the air without sanction a further scrum will be ordered and the team who originally threw in the ball will throw the ball in again.

This scrum collapsed. What difference did it make who had possession when a scrum collapses?

The only time it makes is when the scrum wheels.

20.11 SCRUM WHEELED
(a) If a scrum is wheeled through more than 90 degrees, so that the middle line has passed beyond a position parallel to the touchline, the referee must stop play and order another scrum.
(b) This new scrum is formed at the place where the previous scrum ended. The ball is thrown in by the team not in possession at the time of the stoppage. If neither team win possession, it is thrown in by the team that previously threw it in.

But did this scrum wheel?

It slewed about but did it go beyond 90 degrees so that the middle line (that tunnel) had passed being parallel to the touchline?

It would take a fervid imagination and an odd viewpoint to suggest that had happened.

It would seem that 18 000 Queenslanders - and the referee - were wrong.