Head of referees says Gauzere has admitted he got big calls wrong in Wales' defeat of England

7:26am, 01 March 2021

Referee Pascal Gauzere has admitted to the two controversial mistakes he made during Wales’ Six Nations defeat of England on Saturday. Gauzere was at the centre of two major talking points during the game, which saw Wales continue their unbeaten run in this year’s Six Nations as they chase an unlikely Grand Slam.

And Gauzere has now acknowledged his two errors, according to World Rugby’s Head of Match Officials Joel Jutge.

Jutge told Midi Olympique:

“I believe one has to be transparent and not let things drag on and say what one thinks. There were two unfortunate events during the match which were tough cases to handle. Pascal Gauzere recognised as such when he spoke to me on the phone,” Jutge said.

After telling England captain Owen Farrell to address his teammates, Gauzere angered England with an early ‘time on’ call which allowed Wales outhalf Dan Biggar take a quick penalty, leading to a Josh Adams try.

“From the moment when the referee says ‘time on’ the game can recommence,” Jutge explained.

“Except that it was on him to make sure the English had had material time to reorganise themselves, because it was him who had asked the captain to speak to his players.”

Later on in the first half, Gauzere and his TMO allowed a Liam Williams try to stand despite an apparent knock-on by Louis Rees-Zammit in the build up.

“With regard to the second try, I think there is a tendency to refer to the TMO too often when one can make the call oneself on the pitch and stick with it which if Pascal had whistled for a knock-on there would have been no appeal by the TMO to review it,” Jutge added.

“Pascal was the first to admit to this when he re-watched the match on Sunday. When one commits an error one should be transparent about it. Despite this he is still an excellent international referee.”

England have opted against lodging an official complaint to World Rugby over Gauzere’s performance.

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