Australian rugby officials want an explanation of the decision to award the British & Irish Lions a last-gasp series-clinching try against the Wallabies at the MCG on Saturday.
Phil Waugh, the Rugby Australia chief executive, has called for accountability following Hugo Keenan’s 80th-minute try in an escalating row after the Lions’ first series win in 12 years.
After the final whistle Joe Schmidt, the Australia head coach, pointed the finger at the match officials and, while he is expected to escape an official sanction from World Rugby, it is understood that the governing body has taken a dim view of the New Zealander’s post-match comments, with one senior source believing Andrea Piardi got the decision correct.
Australia were furious that Piardi did not disallow Keenan’s try for what they perceived was an illegal clearout by the Lions replacement flanker Jac Morgan on Carlo Tizzano. Piardi reviewed the incident but determined that no foul play had occurred on the basis that both players arrived at the ruck at the same time and that Morgan was wrapping.
After the match, Schmidt questioned Piardi’s logic, with Australia clearly believing that Morgan made contact with the neck and that the clearout was therefore dangerous. Schmidt pointed to law 9.20 which states: “A player must not make contact with an opponent above the line of the shoulders.”
“Just watch the footage,” Schmidt said. “In a world of player welfare I think that decision … you only have to look at law 9.20. It’s what they are there to enforce. A player who dives off his feet and is clearly beaten to the position over the ball, makes neck contact … it was a tough one to take. [Match officials] are human. Players make errors. Match officials make errors. Our perspective is we felt it was a decision that doesn’t really live up to the big player-safety push that they are talking about.”
Waugh spoke On Sunday in support of the Wallabies head coach. He told Code Sports: “We’ve got the utmost respect in respecting the referee’s decision. But I do think there’s a level of accountability and explanation that needs to come with that. And we look forward to that.
“My response is absolutely identical to Joe’s comments in the press conference. I played professionally for 13 years and Joe has coached professionally for 20 years and both our views, and all those organisationally, are very aligned with what Joe talked to in that post-match press conference.
“Probably the number one priority for World Rugby is player welfare and we’ve seen great progress made in that space, and in a lot of ways World Rugby lead world sport in protecting the safety of players. So the progress the game globally has made can’t be underestimated. World Rugby should be very proud around their leadership position on player welfare.”
Senior figures at World Rugby are said to be unimpressed with Schmidt’s decision to openly turn on the referees but it is unlikely that his comments will meet the threshold for disciplinary action. But four years ago Rassie Erasmus, the then South Africa director of rugby, was punished after his tirade against the referee Nic Berry. Erasmus released an hour-long video criticising decisions made by Berry and subsequently was banned for 12 months from matchday activities.
For their part, the Lions shrugged off the incident: Andy Farrell, the head coach, insisted Morgan produced a good clearout, and the fly‑half Finn Russell suggested Tizzano was guilty of play‑acting in an attempt to win a penalty and deny Keenan the winning try.
“I thought it was a good clearout live,” Farrell said. “I couldn’t understand what they were going back for.” Russell said: “[Tizzano] obviously holds his head and tries to get a penalty from it, but, nah, I think it was a brilliant clearout.”
