WORLD Rugby has accepted that referee Craig Joubert was wrong to award Australia a match-winning penalty against Scotland on Sunday - but insisted that the South African “has been and remains a world-class referee”. The statement published last night by the global governing body made no mention of Joubert’s dash from the pitch at the end of the game - an action that World Rugby chief executive Brett Gosper had earlier flippantly suggested might have been because the official needed the toilet.
In its statement, World Rugby says that, because the Wallabies’ Nick Phipps had touched the ball, Scotland’s Jon Welsh was not offside when he handled it. The correct decision should therefore have been a scrum to Australia for an earlier Scotland knock-on - although Joubert was right not to refer the incident to the Television Match Official. Scotland lost the World Cup quarter-final 35-34 after Australian stand-off Bernard Foley successfully kicked the penalty.
“Joubert applied World Rugby Law 11.7 penalising Welsh, who had played the ball following a knock-on by a team-mate, resulting in an offside,” the statement reads. “On review of all available angles, it is clear that after the knock-on, the ball was touched by Australia’s Nick Phipps and Law 11.3(c) states that a player can be put onside by an opponent who intentionally plays the ball.
“It is important to clarify that, under the protocols, the referee could not refer to the TMO in this case and therefore had to rely on what he saw in real time. In this case, Law 11.3(c) should have been applied, putting Welsh onside. The appropriate decision, therefore, should have been a scrum to Australia for the original knock-on.
“Overall, it is widely recognised that the standard of officiating at Rugby World Cup 2015 has been very high across 44 compelling and competitive matches to date. World Rugby high performance match official manager Joel Jutge said: ‘Despite this experience, Craig has been and remains a world-class referee and an important member of our team’. Appointments for the semi-final stage of the competition will be held in due course.”
The statement was issued after an assessment of the referee’s performance by the match official selection committee, chaired by former Scotland international John Jeffrey. Last night Scottish Rugby declined to comment on the statement.
Speaking on Radio 5 Live some hours before the statement was published, Gosper said: “Maybe he was keen to get to the bathroom, who knows? Craig Joubert is a superb referee and has been for a long time and he’s a good man.There will be reasons for whatever Craig did.
“When you have a hostile 82,000 people, for whatever reason, who knows how that affects behaviour? I’m sure as a referee he sensed a bit of hostility.”
As the Scotland squad tried to put the disappointment of such a dramatic elimination from the World Cup behind them, tighthead prop WP Nel insisted they could go from strength to strength after coming so close to beating the Australians. “We stuck to our guns, and we can be proud and look forward to the Six Nations,” Nel said. “If we perform like we did out there we have every chance of winning the Six Nations. It is just up to us to put the performances out there.”
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