RWC 2015: referee Craig Joubert wrong to penalise Scotland, rules World Rugby

Statement fails to address referee’s sprint off the pitch – ‘Maybe he needed the bathroom’ jokes Gosper

Craig Joubert (Getty Images)

Scottish rugby’s sense of outrage at their World Cup quarter-final defeat by Australia touched new heights when the sport’s governing body confirmed that the crucial late penalty call against them by the referee Craig Joubert was wrong. There is no going back – the Wallabies will meet Argentina on Sunday for a place in the final – but the feeling of injustice north of the border will not ease until long after the destination of the trophy is decided.

However, there was no mention in the statement released by World Rugby of Joubert’s high-speed dash from the field at the end of Sunday’s match at Twickenham – an act wholly out of step with refereeing tradition and one that provoked a deluge of criticism from all sections of the union game.

In the immediate aftermath of the match the former Scotland captain Gavin Hastings said Joubert’s exit was “the worst thing I have seen on a rugby field in a very long time.” Hastings added, “If I see referee Craig Joubert again, I am going to tell him how disgusted I am.”

The World Rugby chief executive, Brett Gosper, attempted to come to Joubert’s defence. “I’m sure as a referee he sensed a bit of hostility,” Gosper said, before joking: “Maybe he was keen to get to the bathroom, who knows?”

The Scots were two points up with less than two minutes left on the clock when the South African official penalised the prop Jon Welsh for playing the ball in an offside decision. Bernard Foley, the Australian outside-half, duly kicked the goal to give his country a one-point victory.

Joubert had only seconds to weigh the evidence in a chaotic situation following a loose tap from a Scottish line-out, but video footage proved that the Wallaby scrum-half Nick Phipps had put Welsh onside. This was confirmed by the tournament’s referee selection committee – chaired, as coincidence would have it, by the former Scotland flanker John Jeffrey – who said that the correct decision should have been an Australian scrum.

In making the detail of its review public, World Rugby took a highly unusual step. But it was also a welcome one. The incident overshadowed an outstanding quartet of last-eight matches and the governing body felt it had no choice but to act with transparency.

At the same time, Joubert received a degree of support. “Overall, it is widely recognised that the standard of officiating … has been very high across 44 compelling and competitive matches to date,” the statement read. In addition, the man who runs the high-performance referee programme for the governing body, Joel Jutge of France, said: “Despite this experience, Craig has been and remains a world-class referee and an important member of our team.”

Refereeing appointments for the semi-finals were confirmed tonight. France’s Jérôme Garcès will take charge of Saturday’s game between South Africa and New Zealand, while English official Wayne Barnes will referee Argentina versus Australia.

Meanwhile, the World Cup-winning lock Ben Kay and the much-garlanded British & Irish Lions coach Ian McGeechan will join two leading Rugby Football Union figures, the chief executive Ian Ritchie and the Professional Game Board chairman Ian Metcalfe, on a panel set up to review England’s miserable performance at the tournament. The fifth member will be Ian Watmore, a former Football Association CEO.

Kay’s involvement will raise an eyebrow or two, given his high profile in the media, but he is a sharp thinker on the game and has recent experience of the England rugby scene, having played in the 2007 World Cup final as well as the triumphant match in Sydney four years before.