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The most controversial international rugby refereeing decisions ever

By Jack Tunney
Referee Romain Poite attempts to explain himself to All Blacks and Lions captains Kieran Read and Sam Warburton during the 2017 British & Irish Lions Tour of New Zealand.

Rugby referees are just as important to the game of rugby as the players themselves. Without the man in the middle, the game would fall apart.

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If a player has a bad game, it’s not the end of the world, there are 14 others to make up for them. On the flip side, if the referee has a bad game, it could affect the entire outcome of the match.

Check out the most controversial rugby refereeing decisions below:

5) Craig Joubert – Scotland vs Australia 2015 RWC

LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 18: Referee Craig Joubert awards Australia a late match winning penalty during the 2015 Rugby World Cup Quarter Final match between Australia and Scotland at Twickenham Stadium on October 18, 2015 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images).

Possibly the first time Twickenham has ever unanimously sung ‘Flower of Scotland’.

Scotland entered this game as major underdogs against the mighty Wallabies. This did not stop them from going hammer and tongs at the men in gold, however.

As the clock turned 78, it was tight with Scotland leading the way at 34-32. It was then that Joubert made the huge decision, giving Australia the penalty to win the game.

The ball had come over a Scottish shoulder, to be caught instinctively by Jon Welsh recovering himself from an offside position.

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Whilst this was the correct decision, it didn’t stop those hardy Scots from being outraged about missing out on the final by those tight margins.

4) Wayne Barnes – New Zealand vs France 2007 RWC

Referee Wayne Barnes during the 2007 RWC quarter-final between New Zealand and France. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images).

In 2007 the All Blacks were once again red hot favourites to lift the William Webb Ellis trophy. This would have been the first time since the inaugural 1987 Rugby World Cup.

They lined up against old rivals France in the quarter-finals on a wet windy Cardiff night. The men in black started well, showing their dominance again the French outfit.

Things started to go south midway through the game though, as the French side started to work their magic.

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It was what happened in the 67th minute that turned the game from the normal to the utterly impossible.

Freddie Michalak had come on to the field to inject some of his magic and found himself free along the left touchline after a blatant forward pass from Damien Traille. This led to a wonderful offload from Michalak to allow Yannick Jauzion to go over the line and put the French in front.

Despite the obviousness of the pass, the try was allowed to stand, and New Zealand ended up being dumped out of the competition.

3) Pascal Gauzere – England vs Wales 2021 Six Nations

Wales’ wing Josh Adams (L) is congratulated by Wales’ centre Jonathan Davies (2nd L) as England’s fly-half George Ford (C) appeals to referee Pascal Gauzere (R) after Adams scores a try during the Six Nations international rugby union match between Wales and England at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, on February 27, 2021. (Photo by Paul Ellis /AFP via Getty Images).

This game had it all. Superstar wingers, controversy, and a trophy win.

Looking at the controversies in particular though, the referee more than stole the show.

First up young winger Louis Rees-Zammit appeared to knock the ball forwards with his right hand before the ball hit his leg and went backwards. This enabled Liam Williams to then pick the ball up and run through to score under the posts.

Rugby fans were screaming for a knock-on. Even the Welsh weren’t expecting the try to stand. After a long look at the video footage, the try stood. Even Rees-Zammit was pictured with a look of shock on his face.

The ruling was that even though the ball went forwards off of his hand, because it then went backwards off of his leg before it touched the ground, it was not deemed as a knock-on.

Later on in that game, Dan Biggar used all of his year’s worth of experience to catch England napping.

Gauzere had instructed captain Owen Farrell to go back and speak to his team, but whilst the England squad were in a huddle Biggar asked Gauzere if time was back on. With his go-ahead, Biggar launched a cross-field kick for electric winger Josh Adams to catch and put down.

There was fury from the England supporters as they firmly believed their squad had not been given enough time to re-group.

Gauzere has since admitted his mistakes and retired from international refereeing just a few months later.

2) Alain Rolland – England vs South Africa 2007 RWC

Ireland’s referee Alain Rolland (R) gestures as he asks the TV match official to confirm or cancel the try scored by England’s winger Mark Cueto during the Rugby World Cup final match England vs. South Africa, 20 October 2007 at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris. (Photo credit should read Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images).

England had not been performing well in this tournament. After getting thumped by South Africa in the group stages, the underperforming men in white somehow squeezed their way to the final.

Having won the tournament in 2003, they know how to win big games in big tournaments.

This time around it was not to be for the English side, as the South Africans showed the excellence they possessed to bring the trophy home for the first time in 12 years.

The controversial moment that English fans still hang onto happened early on in the second half as the scores were tight.

Mark Cueto caught the ball off of a cheeky flick pass from Jonny Wilkinson on the left-hand wing and went over in the corner, which if converted would have seen the reigning champions take the lead.

The finest margins stopped this from happening however, with Cueto’s left foot scraping the paint of the touchline by millimetres. 15 years on and the English faithful will happily tell you that it was a try, but the only opinion that mattered was Alain Rolland. His decision was no try.

1) Romain Poite – British and Irish Lions vs New Zealand 2017

Lions 2017
Kieran Read of the All Blacks remonstrates with referee Romain Poite during the Test match between the New Zealand All Blacks and the British & Irish Lions at Eden Park on July 8, 2017 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images).

After defeating Australia in their own backyard back in 2013, the British and Irish Lions found themselves against the reigning world cup champions New Zealand. Arguably the toughest of all their opponents.

The tour was currently a win-a-piece coming into the final of the 3 games.

With the scores tied 15-15 in the 78th minute, Romaine Poite blew up for an offside call against the Lions in their own half. This was initially thought to be a penalty, which would have given the All Blacks the opportunity to kick to win the game.

After a TMO decision however, this was reversed to just a scrum on the basis that the offending player did not intend to play the ball, resulting in an accidental offside call.

Consequently, the All Blacks failed to score any more points and the game ended 15-15 with the series being a tie, much to the dismay of the All Blacks fans.

 

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Adrian 1 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

11 Go to comments
T
Trevor 4 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

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B
Bull Shark 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

Of the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.

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