Stories of terrible refereeing decisions in the history of rugby union

Well, here are some stories of some of the terrible refereeing decisions in the history of rugby union (Which is a direct sequel to the blog that I did about the stories of terrible umpiring decisions in the history of cricket but I managed to switch it over to rugby union from cricket for this blog that I posted today) but 1st, it was in 1995 that hosts South Africa took to the field to face France in the wet of the 1995 Rugby World Cup semi final at Kings Park in Durban but luckily the Springboks won the match to make it through to the final - if there'd been today's video technology be available, France's last minute try, ruled out by the ref, would've won them the semi.

And the 2nd one that was in 1999 during the RWC that Fiji took on France (Whose path made easy) in a clash to top the pool but unfortunately for the Fijians that their chances of a likely upset win against the French had fallen apart & taken its toll courtesy of a shocking refereeing performance by New Zealand referee Paddy O'Brien, which to his credit, he owned up to & was feeling it (His first blunder was to miss a crude headbutt by a French player, which also went unnoticed by his assistant referees, one of whom was fellow Kiwi Colin Hawke, then came an injury break following a penalty awarded to the French, Paddy placed the ball on the mark while the injured player was treated. When he subsequently blew the whistle for play to resume, French halfback Stephane Castaignede trapped the ball to himself &, catching the Fijians by surprise, bolted through to the goal line for a try. ''You can't do that'' Paddy told Castaignede ''You were indicated you were taking a shot at goal. No try.'' Then Paddy realized his error because the assistant referees were stationary on the sidelines. He had not directed them to the goalposts. A concentration lapse had led to a calamitous mistake. His next mistake was in assuming something had happened when it hadn't. A punishing spot tackle by a Fijian player had dislodged the ball from a French defender. First player on the spot was another Fijian, who grabbed the ball & scored what television replays established was a perfectly legitimate try. But Paddy, who presumed the ball had gone forward, ordered a scrum, French ball. The Fijian players & supporters were aghast. Next came a series of five-metre scrums with the French applying pressure. After a couple of collapses, Paddy ran to the goalposts & awarded France a penalty try. He later acknowledged that a penalty try was not justified. It ended Fiji's winning hopes, the final score being 28 - 19 to France. But O'Brien wasn't required for the remaining games of the 1999 Rugby World Cup after a diabolical & volatile performance as a ref (Although he served the AR role in the final between Australia & France).

The 3rd one is about the 2011 RWC semi final in which France won the match by a single point against the 14 man Wales after the Welsh skipper was sent off for a lifting tackle quite early in the game but you could argue that the French have several already. When the Welsh captain, Sam Warburton, was sent off early in the semi because it was one of the most controversial decisions in the history of the World Cup according to Nick Mullins in commentary on British TV broadcaster ITV which cost Irish referee Alain Rolland (Who sent Warburton off under controversial circumstances for a tip tackle on French winger Vincent Clerc) a chance to referee the 2011 Rugby World Cup final (It was awarded to South African Craig Joubert instead).

And finally the 4th one is about French second rower Sebastien Vahaamahina getting sent off by the South African referee Jaco Peyper in the 2019 RWC quarterfinal match between Wales & France where the referee had a look at the TMO for foul play when replays show that Vahaamahina had elbowed Welsh player Aaron Wainwright to the head before this happened as Peyper had shown the red card to Vahaamahina (Who had faced a lengthy suspension before announcing his retirement from international rugby) which cost France a chance of reaching the semifinal (Wales had won in the end to set up a semifinal showdown against the Boks in which South Africa dominated the match (Despite losing a man for 10 minutes for a spear tackle during the match) against Japan, ending the previous host nation's hopes & aspirations of advancing through to the semi) but Peyper wasn't required to referee in both semifinals as well as the 3rd & 4th place playoff & the final of RWC 2019.

So that is my 431st blog of the year 2021 (MMXXI) & my 51st of this year.

P.S. And I was telling Carole during our Indian meal for dinner at her place on Sunday the day before Pops 74th birthday that I was listening to the Cafe de Paris music album in its entirety for the 1st time, invoking memories of my childhood (It was 20 years ago that I was dancing to the late Nan to that tune during my school holiday period) before I listened to one Foo Fighters song taken from the greatest hits album that I own which is Best Of You to retain my youthful rock energy (Although I'm 30 now because we're all getting old) unlike last month that I listened to another one of the Andrea Bocelli albums called Romanza that Carole has got that we own in its entirety before I listened to one Incubus song taken from the Make Yourself album called Out From Under to also retain my youthful rock energy.

And finally what happens if the knock on rule in rugby is abolished? Because most rugby players would be outraged & they wouldn't be happy at all (There would be less scrums as well as the ball would be in play more, making it more entertaining from the fans then this means players would need to be lighter to get around the field more & which would them, in turn, mean collisions being less intense in the sport).