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Joel Jutge, World Rugby’s head of match officials, has slammed France captain Antoine Dupont for the remarks he made following his team’s exit from the World Cup.
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Following France’s 28-29 loss at the hands of the Springboks in the quarterfinals of the World Cup, the French captain used the post-match press conference to complain about the quality of the officiating on the day.
Jutge has now hit out at the Les Bleus scrumhalf for the remarks he made in an interview with French publication Midi Olympique.
Jutge specified that he does not condone Dupont’s comments, however the former international referee aims to counter the various “movements of abuse and threats” against match officials caused by these declarations.
At the post-match press conference, Dupont said: “There are clear and obvious situations which have not been whistled but I don’t want to get angry… I’m not sure that the refereeing was up to the level of the challenge”.
In an interview granted exclusively to Midi Olympique, the boss of the men with the whistle explains why the content of the Toulouse player’s comments could have a negative impact: “As responsible for the referees, I cannot endorse what Antoine Dupont said, because it gave rise to a terrible wave of abuse and hatred online towards Ben (O’Keeffe).
“But I know the man, and I have no doubt about his moral values and the way he perceives the exchanges between referees and players. He is a huge champion and a good person whom we respect, but I repeat, I do not condone what he said that day. We all know that he was under enormous pressure to return following his injury.”
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Jutge, as the boss of referees, also calls for protecting the profession from the various abuses that can impact match officials and reveals that he is worried about the physical safety of the officials.
“I had anticipated that if France were eliminated in the quarter-finals, it would be difficult for us, because of the emotion it would arouse.
“To be honest, I had thought that it would perhaps be necessary to to be able to physically protect our referees, because I felt a drift coming, with this very strong enthusiasm behind the XV of France.
“It was not necessary because the security at the Stade de France works very well But we must not hide that the days following the quarter-final were difficult.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to comments