A REFEREE had to apologise after her blunder saved Ronnie O’Sullivan from forfeiting a frame.
And the Rocket responded in emphatic style by smashing up the reds.
O’Sullivan, 48, was in the opening frame of his Players Championship quarter-final with Mark Selby.
But despite having a clear sight of the reds with the cue ball on the top cushion, he fouled on his first two shots.
The referee should then have given O’Sullivan a warning that a third miss in a row would result in him gifting Selby the frame.
But she forgot and so when O’Sullivan fouled for a third time, there was confusion at Telford.
The ref apologised for her error and the warning was given ahead of his fourth shot – with both players seemingly agreeing to the spontaneous rule change.
And knowing the pressure was on, O’Sullivan took zero chances as he blasted the white into the cluster of reds, sending them sprawling across the table.
The seven-time snooker world champion barely waited to see the cue ball come to a stop before marching back to his seat wearing his chunky black trainers.
Selby offered up no complaint and simply got on with the opening frame, accepting the honest mistake and carrying on with the crunch clash.
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And fans on Twitter were quick to share their responses to the controversial moment.
One said: “Referee actually did well in the first frame imo in acknowledging her mistake and warning Ronnie, I thought she might just let it go.
“Personally I think Ron let himself down by not calling it himself because he defo knew.”
Another wrote: “I mean technically he should have lost the frame on the miss rule so guess leaving Selby right in them was fair enough.”
A third added: “Looks like someone was very frustrated.”
A final user commented: “An eventful opening frame.”
And it was an opening frame that Selby ran away with thanks to a classy break of 65.
The Jester from Leicester then marched into a stunning 4-0 lead.
