Now Whitehaven were in their stride, and more expansive rugby resulted in the ball falling to full-back Craig Benson, whose delicious dummy carved open the defence for the third try of the afternoon.
But TV replays showed that in taking a quick throw-in, Rees had used a different ball - handed to him by a ball-boy - to the one that Jonny Sexton had sliced into touch, which is against rugby's Law 19.2.