RWC - Australia - Scotland

[Paul McKeown]

I thought that Scotland were very hard done by, by incompetent refereeing.

a) the Australian tight five were utterly shite and were pinged three times for collapsing. By 10.3 (c) repeated infringements one of the tight five should have been cautioned, yet weren't.
b) the Maitland yellow card was obscene and gifted Mitchell a try.
c) Hogg was hammered, deliberately and maliciously, off the ball, very late in the game. This should have been a caution and a penalty, and would, without any doubt have been sufficient for Scotland to have won the game. The citing commissioner will definitely call this one, and Australia are going to lose a player.
d) Then the penalty at the end. Utterly absurd. Phipps batted the bloody ball with his hand, playing the Scottish players onside. Then he demanded a penalty, despite knowing that he had deliberately touched the ball. The referee gave Australia a penalty, when the correct decision was scrum down Australia. The citing commissioner would well be within his rights in calling Phipps for unsportsmanlike conduct, although I doubt he will.

What is particularly absurd was that the Maitland yellow card was on the intervention of the TMO, when the laws don't allow for that at that point, whilst apparently Joubert didn't call for the TMO in awarding the penalty to Australia, as the laws don't allow for it that point, either. Utterly inconsistent and defying all norms for natural justice.

And as for Joubert running off, without shaking hands with the two captains, nor waiting for his linesmen, that's unspeakable.

And remember Joubert was the numpty from the final of the last world cup. We all remember the standard of officiating in that game, too.

Thoughts?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

It was disgraceful refereeing, I agree. It should have been a famous upset. Though in fairness, I think Australia should have scored more (they missed at least one clear try right at the start, and Scotland were gifted two of their tries). The one point in favour of Joubert is that he did go to the TMO when spotting the knock-on before the disallowed Australia try.

Ultimately, though, Scotland should not have messed up that line-out... Just throw it short, keep possession and run the clock down, and boot it up the field if needed. One report said Ireland are still haunted 24 years later by a similar loss against Australia in 1991 in a QF then - does anyone remember that one?

Argentina were brilliant against Ireland. Maybe an Argentina-New Zealand final?

[Carl Hibbard]

Running off as fast as his little legs would carry him was perhaps even worse.

[Brian Towers]

Joubert certainly has form when it comes to pro-SH bias. The 2011 RWC final between France and NZ is only the most famous. There have been other examples where his "bad" decisions have decided a NH v SH match in favour of the SH side.

What is particularly absurd was that the Maitland yellow card was on the intervention of the TMO, when the laws don't allow for that at that point,

Not strictly true. The TMO is allowed to intervene in cases of foul play and try decisions. During the TMO deliberations (audible on the radio) he mentioned (and rejected) the possibility that the deliberate knock-on had clearly prevented a try.

And as for Joubert running off, without shaking hands with the two captains, nor waiting for his linesmen, that's unspeakable.

Perhaps he's allergic to rain?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

And as for Joubert running off, without shaking hands with the two captains, nor waiting for his linesmen, that's unspeakable.

Perhaps he's allergic to rain?

Maybe he needed the loo?

[Clive Blackburn]

Maybe he needed the loo?

If he had stayed on the pitch much longer then he would have needed the hospital!

[Paul McKeown]

Meanwhile, a petition

Lol

[John Moore]

Scotland were indeed unlucky and deserved to win but, having said that, one is drawn inexorably to P G Wodehouse who said "It is never difficult to distinguish between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine".

[MartinCarpenter]

Well unlucky in one way - the Australians did seem to give them an awful lot of basically free tries for whatever reason

[John Clarke]

I'm probably putting my neck on the block in posting this, but have a look here for a different assessment of Scotland's performance at the RWC - and of the other NH countries.

[Brian Towers]

have a look here for a different assessment of Scotland's performance at the RWC - and of the other NH countries.

I'd agree with the bit about Scotland having more than their fair share of luck to get that far, but the rest is guff. If I'm wrong then Scotland should be next year's 6N champions and England will battle it out with Italy for the wooden spoon.

The failure of England and Wales is down to the pig-headed (am I allowed to say that in a non-political context?) obstinacy and selectorial incompetence of their coaches. In Wales case this was partially ameliorated when injuries allowed Gatland to admit one mistake and recall Biggar, who ended up being their player of the tournament, but he steadfastly refused to pick up the phone to talk to Adam Jones. But for that final obstinacy they might just have been playing in the semi final in place of South Africa.

As for, Lancaster, how can you refuse to pick the top 2 European players (players of the year in 2013-15)? Particularly when the Cheeky Australian coach was busy overturning similarly stupid rules from the ARB. He compounded the felony by picking out of position a player with little experience of the game over an established player who had been a bulwark of the last 6N side and then reversing the new expansionist policy by selecting the son of one of his coaches to lead a damage limitation exercise against an injury-hit Wales when earlier in the year the expansionist policy had brought home the bacon against the same team in a match played at the dragon's lair.

[MartinCarpenter]

To be fair Wales had an awful lot of their first (2nd, 3rd!) choice backs out, and seem to have a major mental hang up about southern hemisphere teams.
(They really do seem to keep losing close matches.).

Australia did only let people back in if they had 60+ caps or something.