As an amateur ref I know I will be criticised from the second a team loses the toss of a coin before kick off, it can be a thankless task. This man always had my respect he did a great job and as a Welshman was alway comfortable with him afficiating our games. Wayne I wish you well and a long and happy retirement, you will be missed.

Barnes taught NZ in 2007 that they need to be better than the ref.
The need for their team to be clearly superior - so that decisions from match officials do not determine victory or defeat.
Barnes has refereed NZ tests fairly since that 2007 test.

Listen I felt Wayne Barnes did an ok job in the final but I have to say he's more often than not involved in a controversial decision or two in big games. As an Ireland rugby fan I'm not sorry to see him retire. Always felt we were heavily penalised by Barnes much more than any other referee and as a result lost more games when he was in charge of proceedings. 😥 He's better off as a barrister .

In November 2022, after the France test, Rassie went on such a rant that led to death threats against Barnes and his family. So what does world rugby do…nothing. Barnes knew what he had to do in the final to protect his family.

This is great news that Barnes is retiring especially for Southern Hemisphere rugby. English referees hav a bias against Southern Hemisphere teams especially nz. I have no problem with the cards in the final. The most contentious issue was penalising savea for not releasing. Barnes then saw the replay and all savea got was an apology because he made a mistake, as he is the sole judge of fact out there he should have stopped the game reviewed the footage and then awarded a penalty to nz if it was inconclusive awarded as a scrum
Remember the French rwc game France where offside for large parts of the game and then awarded a try from a forward pass allowing France to win the game
Finally In my opinion England have a lot of work to do to get up to international standards

Having read the comments to date I have had to join the “Bun Fight”! How anyone can criticize Barnes and his team for their stellar performance in the RWC final I do not know. They were as close to perfection as they could be. In the febrile atmosphere of the final perfection is probably unachievable but they came damn close. Remember it was the bunker that gave the red cards; I suspect that the 2 decisions would have been reversed if it had been on field alone but remember we don’t see all the shots. When it comes to SPOTY the Beeb should give the Team prize to Barnes and his team ( and that for me would be over and above the Ryder cup winners ) Have a great retirement Mr Barnes not many sportsmen stay at the top for as many years as you have. Well done!

Interesting that NZ have already submitted a report with evidence of Barnes's embarrassing SA Man of the Match performance to WR without resorting to social media like the cry baby clown, Erasmus, did. See the difference?

Needed some salt for my eggs…Four years is a long time

It is hardly Barnes fault that Cane got a red card. It’s that laws. Well done, though I have to say SA are tho most lucky winners of world cup considering the France and England games. Like the lucky winners NZ 2011.

Wayne should stand for he did not running away which makes him guilty of favor