World Rugby organisers confirm referee Craig Jourbet was wrong when he awarded Australia a 78th minute penalty in the World Cup quarter-final against Scotland on Sunday. Scotland led Australia by 34-32 when Joubert deliberately ruled Jon Welsh offside for playing the ball after a knock-on by his team-mate.
The World Cup governing body reported that, because Nick Phipps of Australia made contact with the ball, the right decision should have been scrum to Australia instead of a penalty against Scotland. After Bernard Foley’s penalty, Scotland lost 35-34 to Australia.
World Rugby regulations only allow the Television Match Official (TMO) to rule on foul play or whether kicks or tries at goal are legitimate. In this case, the South African Joubert had to rely on what he saw in real time and couldn’t refer to TMO. Vern Cotter, Scotland coach expressed his views by saying a TMO referral would have taken away any uncertainty.
In this weekend’s semi-finals, Joubert has not been chosen to oversee the matches; therefore he will be available to referee the final. New Zealand versus South Africa semi-final match on Saturday will be refereed by Jerome Garces and Argentina against Australia on Sunday will be arbitrated by Wayne Barnes. Both matches will be played at Twickenham, England.
Joel Jutge, World Rugby high performance match official manager said that, despite what happened, Joubert has been and remains a world-class referee and valuable member of their team.
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