'Very misleading': Wayne Barnes responds to All Blacks' 'complaints' over RWC final refereeing

After refereeing South Africa’s World Cup final win over the All Blacks last month, Wayne Barnes has responded to the reports that New Zealand have sent a complaint to World Rugby over the officiating, saying “you’re never quite sure what that means”.

The match was crammed full of significant moments, including the first ever World Cup final red card shown to All Blacks captain Sam Cane, as well as three other yellow cards being brandished. Just days after the 12-11 loss at the Stade de France, the losing head coach Ian Foster said that they had “already sent a file into World Rugby to get them to make a few comments on… Hopefully they do.”

Joining The Evening Standard Rugby Podcast with Lawrence Dallaglio this week after recently announcing his retirement from refereeing, the 44-year-old said that the All Blacks’ actions are nothing new and that they send feedback of that nature after every game.

All Black coach Ian Foster speaks about his team’s one-point loss to the Springboks in the World Cup Final

All Black coach Ian Foster speaks about his team’s one-point loss to the Springboks in the World Cup Final

Barnes was in charge of three All Blacks matches during the World Cup, and said that their “diligent” coaching staff asked World Rugby for clarification for the first two matches against Uruguay and Ireland, so something similar would be expected after the final. But he stressed that he has not seen that feedback and that reports that there have been complaints can be “very misleading”.

“So I refereed New Zealand three times during the tournament,” Barnes said.

“Refereed them against Uruguay, refereed them against Ireland and refereed them in the final but they sent feedback after every game. So they would say, ‘can you clarify these points?’ So writing to complain to World Rugby, as I’ve seen some of the headlines this week, can be very misleading.”

“I’m sure because Ian Foster is very diligent and with Joe [Schmidt] next to him, and they always go into detail after a match. And so after those other two matches, there’s a lot of detail, asking questions of you know, of clarification. So it wouldn’t surprise me if they’ve sent those into World Rugby. I haven’t seen those yet.”