WRONG CALLS?

Twitter is a cruel mistress.

Within seconds of that penalty being given, social media exploded into a tirade of abuse and disgust towards South African referee Craig Joubert. Joubert’s decision to award the Wallabies a penalty was one of high contention and it was never going to pass without some angry outbursts online and in the stands at Twickenham. Whether it was the right call or not, Australian fans were jubilant. Scottish fans were not.

Poor Joubert even doubted himself. Casting a forlorn eye toward the big screen behind the posts, the referee looked like he wasn’t entirely sure he’d made the right call. Perhaps Josh Strauss did knock the ball on, but in the melee of players, how on earth was Jon Welsh to know that was the case? Surely some leeway should have been granted to the prop, who more grabbed the ball out of the fact it was hurtling toward him as opposed to picking it up to prevent Australia from getting it. An accidental offside would have been fair.

Where Joubert cannot be faulted is the fact that he did not go to the TMO. The laws clearly state that a referee can only refer to the TMO in line with an act of foul play or to determine whether a try has been scored – this constituted neither of those stipulations. Greig Laidlaw was within his rights to ask Joubert to go upstairs and check, Joubert was correct in denying him that.

What Joubert cannot be excused for is after the game.

There is not one excuse that can be made for him sprinting off the pitch at the end of the game. Yes, he made a very controversial call that will divide opinion across the planet, but there is no justification for avoiding the Scottish players after the game. It is a cowardly act, and it may have just cost him any further participation in this World Cup.

What he should have done was blown the final whistle, backed his decision-making and shook hands with every single Scottish player, commiserated them on their defeat but also congratulated them for their monumental effort in making that game one of the most memorable quarter-finals in World Cup history and wished them all the best for their future endeavours.

Instead he is now faced with an even worse backlash than what he would have received after the game.

On top of that, World Rugby have made things even worse by releasing a statement admitting that Joubert got it wrong. The implications that come with that defy logic – where are the apologies for decisions such as the Jared Payne red card? Should there be a replay because such a big decision lost Scotland the game? Do World Rugby back their referees? It’s a very interesting question as to what World Rugby are attempting to gain from releasing that statement.

In many ways it is a great shame that such an enthralling match ended the way it did. After that game we should have been on our feet applauding two fantastic teams that battled it out tooth and nail until one side emerged victorious. Instead we are debating the actions of the referee who, up until the incidents, had a very good game in my opinion.

Your heart goes out to Scotland – they poured everything into that match and ultimately they fell agonisingly short. But at the same time all credit to the Wallabies for managing to go back up the field and force that all important penalty that won them the game because in the end it doesn’t matter how they got there – all that matters is that they are in the semis and Scotland are not.

Neither are Ireland.

It’s a sorry end to what was a rather successful tournament up until now for Joe Schmidt and his merry men. 43-20 accurately reflects the dominance Argentina possessed on Sunday, and it shows just how badly Ireland still rely on their key men. Without Paul O’Connell, Peter O’Mahony, Sean O’Brien and Jonathan Sexton, Ireland floundered and before they could even blink they were 17-0 down and the game already seemed beyond them.

Having to overcome France a week earlier probably did not help, especially given Argentina only had Namibia to defeat by contrast, but it still does not cover the fact that Ireland were comprehensively outplayed. Daniel Hourcade’s men showed a dynamic flair and attacking prowess that was beautifully artistic and which simply cut Ireland to pieces. Juan Imhoff and Joaquin Tuculet were fantastic with ball in hand, epitomising Argentina’s triumph.

Say what you want about Jerome Garces’ decision not to red card Ramiro Herrera for a potential second yellow card, it probably would not have made much difference. Argentina just had that extra motivation, that ability to gain that extra yard, and after the two early tries they had the momentum firmly behind them too – Argentina were the better team.

I deliberately did not dwell on this match too much this week (or Ulster’s at all) for the simple fact was we were beaten by the better side, nothing more to it. The fact that Ireland were meant to be the side that would come closest to wrestling the Webb Ellis Cup off of the All Blacks speaks volumes as to the gulf in class between the northern and southern hemisphere sides given that they were picked apart easily by the so-called weakest of the four Rugby Championship teams.

There’s no point in discussing where to go now. Ireland’s, Wales’ and Scotland’s players head back to their provinces. Pro12 rugby awaits them when they return empty handed and still reeling from their respective defeats – perhaps the World Cup disappointment will loom over them like a grey cloud or perhaps it will galvanise them to better things for their club teams. Who knows?

One thing is for certain: the best four teams in the world are in the World Cup semi-finals.