In the first, Phil Dowson had clearly scored and was awarded the try. In the second, everyone thought that Soane Tonga'uiha had scored, except the TMO, who thought there was enough doubt there for the try to be given.

Now let's imagine that there had been no video referee. Would the decisions have gone the same way? Possibly, possibly not. Does it matter now? After all, you cannot change the past.

But I'm not writing a 'what if?' article anyway. What is worth considering is that while in the games the Saints were involved in the referees could opt for a second opinion from the man in the truck and his phalanx of angles and replays, in virtually every other game during those weekends none of the other referees had the same option.

And this is, I believe, incredibly unfair. The Guinness Premiership is the most competitive league in the world and a decision here or there can make the difference between a place in the play-offs, in the following season's Heineken Cup, or even relegation.

So why should one match (sometimes two, but rarely more than that) be afforded a video referee while the rest are not?

Super League has the same issue, where only the games screened live on Sky Sports have a video referee. This has provoked regular debate, not least in the past campaign where there have been calls for or the removal of the video referee altogether (by England and Warrington boss, Tony Smith) or big screens at every game by Justin Morgan, coach at Hull Kingston Rovers, and Leeds Rhinos' assistant coach, Willie Poching, who said: "Not having a video ref is the biggest inconsistency in our game. Too many games are won and lost by bad calls."

Ironically enough Poching's team had just benefitted from a lack of a video referee when Bradford wing Rikki Sheriffe had a try ruled out that looked good on replay.

It is a far cry from the southern hemisphere, where every Super 14 and NRL game has a video referee. Granted, at present every game is on TV and would therefore have that facility anyway, but when the TMO was brought into the NRL back in 1998 referrals became available regardless of whether the game was on television or not.

This seems infinitely more sensible than what is in place here in the UK, indeed in Europe as at present not even every game in the Heineken Cup has a video referee.

Of course it helps the TV people; referring a decision immediately brings a new drama to the situation. At home and in the studio the watching pundits and public can dissect the play frame by frame. Meanwhile in the stadium necks are craned to see the nearest screen, eagerly awaiting the decision to be made.

But surely sport is not just about making drama for television? Surely thought also has to be made towards the games where the technology is not available?

This is the debate that has been going on in football for years. For while the Champions League, Premier League and all the top leagues in Europe can afford to bring technology into their competitions, at a lower level - even Leagues One and Two in England - this is out of reach.

This is FIFA's rationale for not introducing goal line cameras, or smart balls that can indicate whether they've crossed the whitewash thanks to a microchip. It is the rule of the lowest common denominator; if it cannot be implemented on a Sunday morning on Hackney Marshes then it cannot be brought in at the Emirates Stadium just up the road.

To my mind this belief fails to take into account the massive financial implications of a bad decision, not to mention that the teams participating on Hackney Marshes probably don't care that the Premier League might have technology not available to them.

In this instance rugby has more sense than football. But there is something in FIFA's attitude that is laudable and should be considered. In other words, one rule should apply at each individual level.

If one international match has a TMO, every international match should have one. If one Heineken Cup match should have a TMO, every Heineken Cup match should have one. And if the referee at one Guinness Premiership match (or two matches this afternoon) has the ability to refer a potentially crucial decision 'upstairs', then this has to be applied equally across the league.