World Rugby has confirmed that Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt will not be sanctioned after his remarks over the officiating of the second Lions Test.
Schmidt was fuming after Hugo Keenan scored a match-winning try in the closing minutes of the game at the MCG after a controversial clear-out by Jac Morgan on Wallabies flanker Carlo Tizzano.
Referee Andrea Piardi and his officiating team reviewed the incident at the ruck and deemed that it was not foul play and allowed the British and Irish Lions’ try to stand.
It was a decision that the experienced head coach took exception to, as he felt it did not live up to the player safety laws World Rugby has implemented.
“I think it was described as arriving at the same time and we can all see that’s not the case. We can all see clear contact with the back of the neck, which might be a different decision on another day and another time,” he said in a post-match interview.
Before doubling down in the press conference: “They [match officials] are human. Players make errors. Match officials make errors.
“Our perspective is that we felt it was a decision that doesn’t really live up to the big player safety push that they are talking about. You cannot hit someone above the levels of the shoulders and there’s no bind with the left arm, his hand is on the ground. That’s what we have seen. We have watched a number of replays from different angles, so it is what it is. We just have to accept it.”
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday in Sydney, World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin didn’t think Schmidt had called into question the integrity of match officials.
“I think it is disappointing when the reaction is one of, ‘this means player welfare isn’t taken seriously’, because we have worked really hard on that narrative,” Gilpin said.
“Everyone knows we are putting player welfare, in its broadest sense, at the top of the agenda. You can see that from what we are doing with the instrumented mouthguards, all the research, the science, and the investigations.
“You’ll all recall, three years ago in the last Lions series in South Africa, when the match official in the first test was very heavily criticised, the mental health challenges. [Ex-referee] Wayne Barnes has talked about it – we’ve got match officials who, when they’re criticised publicly, having their families targeted outside the school gates, that’s not good, that’s not fair, and that’s not right, so we’ve got to support these guys.
“We won’t talk publicly about that decision. The decision has happened, the game’s finished, we’ll move on, we’ll share, and we do share, with Joe and the coaching team why the match officials made that decision. Joe’s got a view about what was wrong with that decision making, and there’ll be a debate between them about that, so that Joe and his players can go into the next Test, understanding how that game’s going to be officiated.”
He added: “The Wallabies had a chance to win an amazing Test match. We understand the emotion involved in that. I think Joe’s comments have continued to respect the fact that the match officials have got a tough job to do.”
The World Rugby boss admitted that the breakdown is a complex area of the game to officiate, and while he was not willing to comment on the final decision publicly, he did throw his backing behind the officials.
“While World Rugby has stated that we do not publicly comment on match officials’ decisions or performance, given the nature of the commentary surrounding last weekend, I just wanted to express our support for the team of match officials involved,” he said.
“There is no other position on the field that is under the scrutiny that our match officials are under, yet they do an incredible job under incredible pressure in a very live environment.
“I think it’s fair to say that when referee groups are reviewing decisions – and they do review decisions, they review with the coaches, they review them across the game – we are always proud to support our match officials in applying that review process, and that’s what we are doing now and in the coming days with our colleagues in Rugby Australia and the Lions.”
