Critics have put the boot into World Rugby after it admitted publicly that Craig Joubert, the referee, had made an error with his decision that cost Scotland a place in the World Cup semi-finals.
World Rugby said yesterday that Joubert was wrong to award a penalty instead of a scrum in the dying moments of the game at Twickenham on Sunday. Australia’s Bernard Foley then kicked the three points to snatch a dramatic 35-34 victory that robbed Scotland of a place in the last four.
Joubert attracted much of the initial criticism, not least for sprinting off the field at the final whistle, but it is now the governing body that is in the firing line for how it has handled the controversy, with the referee winning support from the rugby union fraternity, particularly from Australia.
Michael Cheika, the Australia coach, said it was “unfair” that World Cup officials had pointed the finger at Joubert, while Campese, the former Australia wing, went somewhat further in suggesting that whoever signed off the public rebuke of the South African official “should be shot”. Joubert is unlikely to referee again at this World Cup after being overlooked for the semi-finals.
“It is a bit surprising because no other decision in the tournament has been reviewed,” Cheika, who has had a series of highly-publicised disputes with referees over the years, said. “I really feel for the ref. I genuinely feel for him. It is so unfair. No other referee has had his stuff put out there like that and Craig Joubert is a very good referee.
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“Genuinely I have never seen that before. I am not sure why that decision had to be publicly reviewed and put out there. I really hope his fellow referees stand by him.”
Campese, no stranger to controversy himself, said it would be wrong to blame Joubert for the error.
“I have been in games where referees have made real blunders, but whoever put that statement out saying the referee got it wrong should be shot. Now you’re actually saying the referees are bad,” he said.
“One of the biggest problems in world rugby is trying to get referees, and if they’re going to cop abuse every game - meaning there will be no referees - then we haven’t got a game.
“I know they make mistakes, but you have to live with them. If this decision had been the other way around people would be saying, ‘oh, shut up you Aussies, you whinge all the time’. That’s what sport is all about. I would hate to be a referee. There is so much happening. They are human and they do make mistakes.”
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Jonathan Kaplan, rugby’s most experienced international referee and a veteran of four World Cups who retired two years ago, also added his backing to his compatriot.
“I’m just wondering whether this is a good look for World Rugby to be criticising their own assets,” Kaplan said. “Craig is definitely in the top four referees in the world and that’s why he has been chosen to do the quarter-finals onwards.
“If World Rugby were going to come out and clarify the decision, there’s a lot more they could have shared with the public.”
Joubert’s decision was heavily criticised by some Scottish players and commentators with Gavin Hastings, the Scotland great, saying: “If I see referee Craig Joubert again, I am going to tell him how disgusted I am. It was disgraceful that he ran straight off the pitch at the end like that.”
However, Lawrence Dallaglio, the former England captain, said he was “saddened by some of the comments” as “that doesn’t have a place in our game”.
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Joubert awarded Australia a last-minute penalty for offside, believing that a Scottish hand had knocked the ball on before Jon Welsh, who was in an offside position, caught it. But television replays showed that Nick Phipps, the Australian scrum half, touched the ball just before Welsh, so the Wallabies should have been awarded a scrum rather than a penalty.
Joubert was initially criticised for not referring the incident to the television match officials but World Rugby confirmed that under tournament rules, he was not permitted to ask for a review.
“Unfortunately in this instance, people have taken the game off the field and gotten quite personal about it,” Cheika said. “Supposedly, these are big people in the game who are earning their living from the game through commentary and stuff like that.”
Cheika has been highly critical of referees in the past. Last year he was given a suspended six-month ban and fined for abusing a cameraman in South Africa. He was also fined after abusing match officials during and after Stade Français’ loss to Harlequins in the 2011 final of the Amlin Challenge Cup.
“I can’t make it sound like I’m looking after the referee because it’s not like I’ve come from a pristine background of relationships with officialdom,” he said. “But one thing I will say is that once the game is done and dusted, I’m as good as gold with anyone.”
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Scotland are not the first team to be knocked out of the World Cup after a controversial decision. In the inaugural tournament in 1987, Australia lost to France in the semi-finals after Serge Blanco scored a spectacular late try after the ball had been knocked on in the build-up.
France knocked New Zealand out in the 2007 World Cup quarter-final after being awarded a critical try off a forward pass that was missed by Wayne Barnes, the English referee.