Mako Vunipola could be in trouble after he openly criticised a referee on social media during the France clash with Italy last night.
Former England teammate Jack Nowell was fined £10,000 after being charged with ‘conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game’ for criticising a referee.
Nowell described official Karl Dickson’s sending off of Exeter’s Olly Woodburn against Leicester in April as ‘one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen.’
Last night, the same official chose to disallow a try for a high tackle, which was not received well by fans and players alike.
Vunipola wrote: “Ridiculous decision. No common sense just ticking boxes.”
Former England fly-half Andy Goode also criticised the referee, writing: “Pathetic decision to give a penalty for this and reverse a try scored by Italy to give a penalty to France. Karl Dickson wanted to give a yellow, the game is a laughing stock with decisions like that.”
Another fan wrote: “Absolute kak decision by the refs here. Chest shot. Rugby tackle that slides up. Poor! Italy robbed of a try. One of the worst calls of the #RWC23 so far.”
5 Most Controversial Referee Decisions in Rugby History
Pilloried for the decisions they give and castigated for the ones they don’t, referees do not have an easy job.
These days it’s even harder, as technology allows their every decision to be dissected and discussed by the watching public.
However, some calls are just so bad, they deserve to be pulled apart time and time again.
Organised in chronological order, this is not an all-encompassing list, so feel free to add your own refereeing gaffes in the comments section below.
#5. Scotland v Australia a the 2015 World Cup
Scotland were heavy underdogs in this game and yet a Mark Bennett interception try with seven minutes to go, seemed to have given Scotland the victory and place in the semi finals.
With 2 minutes left to play, Scotland make a hash of their lineout, the ball bobbles around a few times and Joubert awards a penalty to Australia for Scotland playing the ball in an offside position.
At the time, the TMO couldn’t be used to review these sorts of incidents, so Craig Joubert was left to make a decision based on what he saw in that split second. Unfortunately for him, the penalty incident was replayed on the big screen as the kick was taken and the crowd could see the ball had hit an Australian player.
The game finished with Joubert beating a hasty retreat from the ground, after Foley had kicked the penalty to give Australia a 35-34 point victory.
World Rugby later released a statement saying that Joubert had got it wrong.