After Canada lost out to a controversial decision by Kiwi ref Mike Fraser last weekend against Scotland, here is a lookback at a few other controversial refereeing decisions that have cost sides wins against Tier 1 nations over the years.
Paddy O'Brien – France v Fiji 1999
This has gone down as one of the worst refereeing performances of all time, as Fiji suffered a daylight robbery at the hands of future IRB referee chief Paddy O'Brien. There were a number of glaring errors and nearly every one in the game seemed to go against the Fijians, who were on the day put in a big performance and were outplaying the underperforming home side.
First there was a running headbutt from Christian Califano at a maul right in front of O'Brien that was possibly worthy of a red that went unpunished. Then France took a quick tap from a penalty and threw a large forward pass, O'Brien wrongly awarded the try which was quickly overturned by his touchjudge to get the correct decision, but then he inexplicably went back to the penalty that had already been taken, gifting France 3 points.
Later on in the second half, France were attacking and Ugo Mola dropped the ball under the challenge from Alfred Uluinayau which Seta Tawake picked up to score what should have been a try. Only O'Brien ruled a knock on in favour of France.
To round off the performance, O'Brien awarded France a dubious penalty try after they popped up at the scrum. In all this added up to 17 point swing in France's favour, along with the possible red, in a game that finished only 28-19 in the France’s favour. After the match you know you've messed up when even the mild mannered Sean Fitzpatrick is laying into your performance, and O'Brien later admitted himself in the coming years in his autobiography that he "lost the plot".
If O'Brien had visited Specsavers before this game, we would have never had the all time classic between France and New Zealand. Instead the quarter final would have been Argentina vs Fiji both competing for their first ever semi final place.
Wayne Barnes – Ireland v Georgia 2007
This was a match famous for where the Georgians who had lost every game at their debut World Cup in 2003, stunned the world by getting to within inches of defeating Ireland who had come into the World Cup on the back of a good 6 Nations campaign and beaten South Africa and Australia the November beforehand.
Early on in the game in the first 15 minutes, Ireland’s best forward Paul O'Connell recklessly toppled over Giorgi Chkhaidze taking him out in the air. A penalty was immediately blown, but there was nothing further. No yellow card nor red card. Both of which considering the margin of victory was just a couple inches may have made a difference to the result.
A similar offence had happened earlier in the tournament involving Schalk Burger and Samoa. He too got away with it to the commentators displeasure, although he was banned for 4 weeks afterwards. O'Connell meanwhile got nothing, a feeling he has become quite familiar with in his career. 4 years before in 2003 Namibia were very upset he got away free for stamping, and more recently he escaped recklessly booting Dave Kearney in the head.
Ian Smith – Samoa v Scotland 2012
There was no doubt that Samoa were the dominant team when they hosted Scotland in June 2012 at Apia Park. However they were struggling to convert their possession and territory into points against a resolute Scottish defence.
Samoa were ahead 16-10 going into the final section of the match when Tim Visser dropped the ball and wing Paul Perez had the pace to run away for what should have been the try that put the game beyond their opponents reach. However Australian touchjudge Ian Smith called a foot in touch and the try was disallowed.
With later video evidence Smith’s call was proven to be completely incorrect, and the poor decision ended up costing the game as Scotland went and scored under the posts through Rob Harley in the final minute to win 17-16, a win they would have never happened had a TMO or the touch judge hadn’t made the error.
After the match the Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi went on a rant that would make his countryman Eliota Fuimaono Sapolu proud. On a radio show he said he was making an official complaint to the IRB "so they won't send any more idiots to officiate in future Manu Samoa matches" who try and convince everyone in broad daylight the ball had crossed the line.
Tuilaepa then went further on the matter claiming "there is still an attitude of racial discrimination which exists in these officials against the rise of Manu Samoa that they don't want us to defeat any of the big teams like Scotland".
Leighton Hodges – Italy v Fiji 2013
Fiji beat Italy this June, but they may well have completed the home/away double over the Italians this season if it wasn’t for the Welsh referee Leighton Hodges going sin bin crazy last November.
Almost every tackle was given the benefit of the doubt went towards the sin bin option. First was Akapusi Qera who lifted up Luciano Orquera beyond the horizontal, an utterly false yellow card as put him down safely on his feet and there was nothing in the lawbook to say it was sin bin worthy. The card seemed especially harsh considering Italy’s Martin Castrogiovanni had thrown a punch at Qera afterwards.
Then there was another harsh call where Edoardo Gori ducked into a tackle by Asaeli Tikoirotuma which was ruled to be a high tackle. Next there was another harsh card for Masi Matadigo for a tackle. Then whilst Fiji were defending with 12 men, Nemani Nadolo was sin binned for a deliberate knock on and the team was briefly down to 11 men.
By the time Fiji had got back to 15, the score had changed from 5-3 to 5-20. Later there was also a yellow for Sisa Koyamaibole, probably the only one that was a sure card. Whilst Fiji collected a record haul of cards, Italy meanwhile on the contrary took well over an hour to concede a penalty.
Despite this the game came down to a very close finish. Fiji fought back and were within a converted try and attacking Italy in the last 5 minutes, but the cards had simply given them a mountain too high to climb. After the match Fiji launched an official complaint to the IRB as they would have surely won the match but for the colossal amount of cards.
Mike Fraser – Canada v Scotland 2014
And now to the controversy of the weekend. Canada gave a very good second half performance and 75 minutes in were hunting for the upset victory over Scotland, launching a lot into a final offensive. Hard working flanker Jebb Sinclair barrelled over Scotland fly half Ruaridh Jackson to give his side momentum and 4 phases later they had won the penalty that may have possibly won the match.
However Kiwi referee Mike Fraser, who had previously been involved in the controversial ending in the recent Georgia vs USA match last November, went back to the Sinclair break to consult his TMO. From the get go it seemed he was looking for a penalty, and he not only gave that but red carded Sinclair who left the absolutely raging.
Canada’s chance for an upset pretty much ended there, and Fraser's decision was met with a large consensus of condemnation from annoyed Canadian fans and even Scottish pundits with the BT Sport commentator Mike Blair criticising the decision.
The IRB later rescinded any post match punishment for Sinclair, which kind of suggests they are in agreement it may have been wrong. But that will be of no consolation for Canada, who lost the chance to kick a penalty for a famous win.
And the time a Tier 2 nation got the call …
Let's be honest, most often a refereeing blunder is more likely to go in favour of the favourites. And especially more likely when the underdog is a side who is regarded with the inferior tag "Tier 2" and rugby wise outside the established circle. You would rarely see a Paddy O'Brien-esque performance where a Tier 2 nation is the recipient of some bafflingly favourable calls, and likely had a Georgian taken out an Irishman in the air that dangerously they would have been banned for weeks.
Anyway, there was one famous time where the big underdog got the generous refereeing call. In the 1991 World Cup match at Cardiff Arms Park, Samoan centre To'o Vaega chipped ahead to score a try that was awarded by French ref Patrick Robin, video evidence showed it was the Welsh hand of Robert Jones that had clearly got their first though.
Anyway, there was one famous time where the big underdog got the generous refereeing call. In the 1991 World Cup match at Cardiff Arms Park, Samoan centre To'o Vaega chipped ahead to score a try that was awarded by French ref Patrick Robin, video evidence showed it was the Welsh hand of Robert Jones that had clearly got their first though.
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