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However my main men Clerc, Rougerie and Heymans go in Paris there are three other men who will be under equal scrutiny this weekend. They are George Clancey, Rob Debney and Romain Poite - the three Television Match Officials (TMOs) on duty this weekend.

The subject of video referees was back in the spotlight after the game in Cardiff when TMO Carlo Damasco made a wrong call in allowing Shane Williams's second try when replays showed the winger's foot had dragged across the touchline before the touchdown.

It is the second year running that the Scots have had a grievance after Jonny Wilkinson's try was allowed at Twickenham in clash when he too was shown to have a foot in touch.

I don't think many people would deny that these two calls were wrong, but I would disagree with the view which says what's the point of video refs if they are going to get it wrong.

The point is that these guys are only human, are under tremendous pressure and like all of us will occasionally make mistakes. In defence of Mr Damasco he got locked in to checking whether Williams had grounded the ball before hitting the corner flag - which he did - and failed to pick up the trailing foot breaking the sideline.

Before this year's Championship I addressed the IRB's elite referees about how we in TV can help the process. At all ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳-hosted Six Nations games (all venues except Paris) the TMO sits in the Match Director's truck. Importantly this means he has eye-to-eye contact with the director as well as being in direct communication.

Our replay director will offer as many different views of an incident as the TMO feels he needs to make his mind up. At any point the TMO can ask for a second viewing (or more) of any particular angle. This process continues until he has a decision. We do though reserve the journalistic right to show other angles later in the coverage if he decides before seeing all angles that he is happy to make his call. Indeed this happened in Cardiff two weeks ago.

I believe these moments produce drama for both the TV audience and the crowd - who see the process on the big screen in the stadium. The top referees all admitted to me they would rather be the man in the middle than the man in the TV booth. The calls by definition are nearly always tight (Did Mark Cueto in the World Cup Final?) and the scrutiny is greater than anything else in the world of sport. But, ultimately, in 99% of cases the right decision is arrived at - which is surely for the good of the game. Just don't try arguing the point with a Scotsman at the moment.

After the first two matches on Saturday we are off the air on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ ONE between 7pm and 7.50pm. But don't worry! If you have the Interactive facility a press of the red button will give you our Forum. Gabby Logan with Keith Wood and Andy Nicol will have more reaction from Dublin before handing to John Inverdale for build-up and interviews ahead of . Also there will be highlights of the earlier matches available for latecomers. For imsoniacs and returning nightclubbers ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ TWO will re-run the whole France v England match at 3.15am on Sunday morning.

Remember too that if eights hours live is not enough for you - or should you miss anything - there are full repeats of all three matches on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer and highlights, reaction and statistics on all games on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ website.

It promises to be a humdinger of a day - just try and ensure you are sober enough to see it through to the final minutes in Paris. Good luck.