In the end, you didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry, to cheer or boo. For the record, most of Twickenham went for the latter. Brilliant, knife-edge thrilling drama, yes. Yet the image that frames this game is Craig Joubert, the South African referee, blowing the final whistle and legging it out of the stadium, bottles pelted in his direction as he went.
Here we had last-gasp drama, hopes rising, hopes dashed and then the mother of all controversies, Gavin Hastings apoplectic in the Radio 5 live commentary booth and every rugby specialist, amateur and newcomer thumbing through the Law 11.3 to divine the truth: did Joubert wrongly referee Scotland out of an astonishing long-shot place in the semi-finals?
The answer, after much review, is affirmative (for full explanation see panel below). Joubert did cost Scotland the match and the biggest upset ever in World Cup knockout rugby history.
This morning, we wake up with all the northern-hemisphere teams locked out of a northern-hemisphere tournament, and with Scotland mired in rough justice.
By the end of the week, the sheer quality of the four games that the north lost to the south may just rise above the shouting.
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The manner in which Scotland fought the odds here shocked not just their Wallaby opposition but pretty much all of Twickenham too. It was an against-the-odds performance that astonished the crowd and sent spirits soaring as the game ticked towards its final denouement.
No greater compliment could be paid to the Scots than that they summoned a passion that matched the Welsh here a day earlier. The two Celtic sides had locked horns with a greater foe and had been the weaker team yet came within minutes of upsetting the odds.
Scotland kept their noses ahead marginally longer than Wales, but both go out of this World Cup with reputations enhanced and admirers won.
Great drama, sport at its most cruel. For Scotland, though, the scoreline is harder to read because of the catalogue of refereeing decisions that went against them.
That final killer penalty decision allowed Bernard Foley to kick Australia back into the lead that they had lost and to hold on to a 35-34 scoreline for the last minute.
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Yet Joubert had also showed Sean Maitland a controversial yellow card for an intentional knock-on, a period during which Australia had scored ten points. Another penalty that Foley kicked came after Joubert bought a cute piece of play from Will Genia who threw a pass, purposefully, against a retreating Mark Bennett.
For all this, Scotland managed to stay in the match and somehow nearly stole it. If you had witnessed the first ten minutes of this game, though, you would have concluded: no chance, no chance at all.
From the start, Scotland were so far off the pace, they were barely even second best in a two-horse race. Australia were fast out of the traps and quickly found the form that had vanquished England and Wales here in the previous two weekends. Scotland looked dazzled by their opposition, Australia went through phases, Scotland couldn’t hold them off and Foley went through for what appeared a likely try after five minutes.
Foley’s error was to try an offload pass to Drew Mitchell and Mitchell couldn’t hold it. Scotland were able then to draw breath but it did them no good. Another five minutes and Australia had scored again, this time it was Adam Ashley-Cooper and there was no dispute. It looked, then, for all the world, as though the Wallabies were going to canter away with it.
Out of nowhere came the Scottish resistance. Possession, they discovered, was the wonder-drug. Australia did not like the tables turning and from their discomfort, Scotland were empowered.
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First Greig Laidlaw kicked a penalty (and Scott Fardy was lucky not to be yellow-carded), then more pressure built and Peter Horne was able to pick and go, unopposed from a ruck, to score under the posts.
Suddenly Scotland were ahead and we had a contest. Every time Australia scored, it seemed they would run away with it, but every time Scotland found a way of pegging them back. Australia scored twice before half-time, a well-worked try by Mitchell on the left wing and then a lineout drive finished by Michael Hooper. They even had another try, by Ashley-Cooper, disallowed for a knock-on.
At 25-19, with Maitland back on the pitch, Scotland got a second wind. They had to fight and scrap for their points; their tries were no great works of art. Finn Russell charged down a Foley kick and put Tommy Seymour through to score, but they then conceded a try themselves and had eight points to chase.
A Laidlaw penalty gave them the first three. Then, with six minutes to run, Bennett intercepted a pass and was in under the posts. Scotland were 34-32 up. At this point, the volume in Twickenham was at its peak. The English stadium was all Scottish. Hearts were in mouths. Could the “home” team hang on?
And there, the game gave way to controversy. Scotland hung on a bit but not long enough. They won a lineout, gained messy possession but the ball was fumbled and Joubert’s whistle gave its fateful blast.
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From there, the noise in Twickenham changed completely. Those cheers became boos, Foley lined up the final penalty and victory was transformed to an extremely controversial defeat.
Scorers: Australia: Tries: Ashley-Cooper (8) Hooper (39), Mitchell (29, 42), Kuridrani (63) .Conversions: Foley 2. Penalty goals: Foley 2 (53,79). Scotland: Tries: Horne 17, Seymour 58, Bennett 73. Conversions: Laidlaw 2. Penalty goals: Laidlaw 5 (13, 20, 33, 46, 69)
Scoring sequence: (Australia first): 5-0, 5-3, 5-10, 10-13, 10-16, 15-16 (half-time) 22-16, 22-19, 25-19, 25-24, 32-24, 32-27, 32-34, 35-34.
Referee: C Joubert (South Africa). Attendance: 77,110