craig joubert

As a neutral can I say thank you for ruining the RWC Final. Your inability to referee the breakdown, offer any degree of consistency, notice high tackles and allow competition at the scrum meant two attacking sides intent on running the ball were reduced to kicking and playing so much of the game in the centre of the pitch.

May you never be allowed near a final again.

formerly known as Sam wrote:As a neutral can I say thank you for ruining the RWC Final. Your inability to referee the breakdown, offer any degree of consistency, notice high tackles and allow competition at the scrum meant two attacking sides intent on running the ball were reduced to kicking and playing so much of the game in the centre of the pitch.

May you never be allowed near a final again.

+ 1

He was very poor today i must admit. Not a great performance by any stretch of the imagination

At least Ghost will hopefully stop going on about Barnes in 2007

So annoying. What was the point in France even turning up?

I thought he was pretty poor aswell. Most specifically in the scrum. He was as bad as i have seen him in refereeing two tier 1 teams. Maybe the occasion got to him. I dont know. Either way i dont think anyone can begrudge New Zealand their win. They have waited long enough!

he did every thing possible to make it look as if he were bent.

Totall agree.

France were robbed in this match. Absolutely dreadful referreeing.

I thought I'dnever say it -- but France should be World Champions.

The really bad decisions started in the first half. The pen awarded to NZ at the scrum, when France clearly had the upper hand and NZ collapsed it. Should have been a kickable pen to France.

Countless high tackles when France dominated possession and were attacking. No pens given. Awful, truly awful.

The NZ habit of constantly lying in numbers on the wrong side of rucks to slow down ball and make it very dfifficult for the opposing team to get at or recover the ball -- never seems to be punished.

Now France know how Wales feels.

Look, Joubert didn't have his best game, but he didn't cost France the match. They were not robbed. Had they hit just one of the kicks they missed they would have won.

All this blaming the referee for defeats is nonsense.

"All this blaming the referee for defeats is nonsense." -- Rubbish.

That referee was appalling. If you think that such decisions don't dramatically affect a game, especially one decided by a point, think again. Re-run the match.

I disagree Ozzy. I hate blaming the ref but that was disgusting today. The most one sided refereeing I've ever seen in my life.

There was no point even playing that game as Joubert was only ever going to allow one team to win.

It is now clear Rugby has a problem: The ref is more of a talking point than the game itself.

The contrast in attitudes to high tackles alone seems grotesque: Warburton red carded in contrast with thousands of kiwis swinging round the head of any Frenchman they could get near with total impunity.

Perhaps the fear of death threats got to him? (I understand Rolland has received a few?).

Sorry Ozzy, disagree. France might've won if they'd kicked a pen over, but they were also robbed of at least 5 pens in kickable positions.

New Zealand got all the 50/50 decisions. Its called home ground advantage. Deserved world champions but boy they were given an almighty fright by France

http://www.irblaws.com/EN/guidelines/

A very difficult game to referee. I thought the scrum was totally undermined though. As someone mentioned the NZ players lying on the wrong side was rife and the final turnover came from McCaw coming in the side. That being said i think some of these calls were marginal and it was at Eden Park. He had a poor game, move on.

Forget the missed kicks...NZ at the breakdown had free rein. Fact

"Sorry Ozzy, disagree. France might've won if they'd kicked a pen over, but they were also robbed of at least 5 pens in kickable positions." -- They were also robbed of field posistion as a result of pens not being awarded, and NZ subsequently scored a pen from one of them.

Home advantage clearly matters.

Dreadful refereeing.

Joubert seemed to allow the occasion to happen, despite the French being the better team they were constantly on the back foot from poor decisions, the Scrum and lineout were far superior but were not allowed to be used, and how Mccaw wasn't red carded for offences against rugby I don't know, there was a time with 12 mins to go he was just throwing himself Yachvilli and rolling into the ball, his bind at the scrum was non existent, and at times even threw his hands in the air to whinge at the ref while the ball was in the scrum!

Had Rolland not reacted with emotion against Warburton and decided on a yellow, in which much worse tackles in this tournament have received that wouldn't have affected the game?!

Nigel Owens did a similar thing to Samoa who could've beaten SA had he been a bit more neutral at the breakdown!

The only thing that has detracted from this world cup more than the refs is the balls!!!

HammerofThunor, send the link to the ref.

And a pair of spectacles when you're at it.

Not just 50/50 calls eirebilly. There were 3 clear high tackles that he ignored. The breakdown was a total joke. France were pinged for everything but NZ had a free reign. There were at least 2 blatant obstructions as well.

NZ's lineout throwing wasn't straight but got away with it. He also gave a free kick to NZ on the french lineout when France had a prop down. Terrible stuff.

That was match fixing of the highest order.

Big shout rodders, balls out but i have to say i thought he woudl never let france win

I don't care Gatts. I can't see it any other way. It was a total disgrace, way beyond home town refereeing.

If thats the way our game is going I don't know if I want to watch rugby anymore. It was fecking disgusting.

rodders, i saw the high tackles and thought that Joubert was bad. I just meant that all the 50/50 calls went to New Zealand because of home ground advantage

"...but i have to say i thought he woudl never let france win" -- That's one way of putting it. We all know what you mean.

Keep things legal!

now the all blacks have the cup, again, maybe refs will start treating them like every other team and penalise them for playing outside the law

A Rugby refs job is very complex and very hard, so from that point of view i think he deserves praise, because for all his faults the game didi flow.

However, France seemed to have little time on the floor before he penalised them, and at the scrum where France had a distinct advantage, he was poor, , but overall the AB's did deserve a win, but it does leave a bad taste, but credit due to AB's as they can't be blamed for the refs shortcomings.

Were the directives thrown away for this match?

"now the all blacks have the cup, again, maybe refs will start treating them like every other team and penalise them for playing outside the law" --- Nice speculation, but reality suggests the opposite actually happens.

eirebilly

Are you justifying home ground advantage in the RWC final??? That is blatantly bias!
I'm not having that as an excuse, it was a shoddy attempt of playing the occasion, yet another game has been handed to a team who in honest opinion did not deserve the game, refs are told to play the game, not the occasion, hence Rollands comments regarding Warburton, now Joubert has done the exact opposite!!!

Sadly this world cup has cost me to rethink my involvement of the game, the IRB are a joke, and the game is suffering for it!

I don't think i've made a single comment on the teams performances, and given that NZ were the best team in the tournament and France had a pearler is strange!!!

I couldn't bear to watch the post match stuff. I imagine everyone's said the right things.

But if I were French I would be absolutely furious.

At least when Alan Roland was criticised it was generally about a problem with the laws- only a vocal minority questioned his competency. Joubert, who has been excellent throughout the tournament, was dreadful in the final. I can understand inconsistency as much as I loathe it, its a part of sport.

Joubert was not inconsistent, he was biased against France. It might have been a language problem and he couldn't communicate with the players, no one will ever know. Maybe the occasion got to him, the pressure of New Zealand expectation in New Zealand, the emotion of 24 years of waiting and the earthquake earlier this year. But he refereed one team differently from the other. It was an utter disgrace that brings his reputation, and he is a very good referee, into disrepute. He cost France position and momentum and denied them clear kicking opportunities. France still could have won.

thebluesmancometh;

Absolutely not. France were the better team and got nothing. I may not be clear enough in my posts but France were reff'd out of the match. I was just trying to say that they could'nt even get 1 of the 50/50 calls due to home ground advantage.

For the record, i think thatRichie McCaw was very lucky not to see a yellow or red today.

This reminds of one of those awful home town descisions you get in boxing.

France had the dominant scrum and lineout and were on the front foot for most of the game, so how the feck can all the descisions go against them. It is a joke.

I'd imagine Joubert won't need to buy a beer in NZ for a while.

I have to say that my Father was watching the game with us, and he knows little or nothing about Rugby and he remarked that the ref was one sided, and didn't treat France fairly. So, although Joubert was poor, i don't think that he upset the result, and of course Tran duch missed a not too hard penalty that might have given the French the World cup.

Hookism

Spot on, Rolland was criticised for a rash reaction, the IRB directives criticised for not being followed throughout the tournament but then so stringently followed by he, but Joubert who, like you I think was deserved of the final, as he has been very good, was uncharacteristically awfull!!! I did raise the question of a SH ref being played better by the SH team at half time but those last 20 he was determined the country would get their happy ending!!

Did they show any replays of Para's injury? (I didn't see the 1/2 time stuff, so might have missed any replays.)

I wonder how AR would have reffed that match.

As Hookism said, Wales have only theirselves to blame for missing the opportunities Rolland gave, Rolland in general was ok but made a very rash decision, France weren't given the same fair crack and I have no doubt if they had been given the pens they deserved late on they would've won.

The interesting point here is a lot of welsh who for some reason wanted the french to take a bit of a tonking as they didn't deserve to be in the final actually are enraged for the french, throwing any issue of bias out of the window, I for one beleive NZ were the best team in the tournament, but didn't deserve to win today!

Ospreydragon wrote:Did they show any replays of Para's injury? (I didn't see the 1/2 time stuff, so might have missed any replays.)

I wonder how AR would have reffed that match.

they havent showed a replay again, think it's NZ tv directors so we're not likely to see it. ITV won't talk about anything like that either.

Interesting to see what the kiwis say when they reappear.

Parra's injury was caused by McCaws knee but it looked very much accidental. Didnt see any blood though if that is what you guys are referring too.

I have to say Joubert has sullied his own reputation for me and can no longer be described as the man for the big occasion. That being said i dont think he intentionally was bad. I just think he had a poor game. IRB now need to tidy up the laws particularly around the scrum and breakdown.

Agreed stand. He had a poor game. I dont know if anyone else notice that he waved the AR away when he flagged for a high tackle in the second half. That to me was very poor.

Inconsistent refereeing again.

At this level, the ref has to be seen to be consistent to both sides.

The match was spoilt for me. And that's not the first one that was spoilt in this WC.

The Woodcock tackle i think he let go fairly as he made no contact and france got a bit of advantage. I cant remember the others but i remember Dallaglio commenting on them.

Just to add a bit of perspective, Marco Simoncelli the Italian Moto GP rider has died after crashing in Malaysia.
We can B1tch all we want but some things are more important.

I am not a ref so may be wrong but i thought that when an AR flagged for something that the ref was obliged to listen to him and not wave him away?

"i dont think he intentionally was bad" -- Intention has nothing to do with it

Ospreydragon wrote:"i dont think he intentionally was bad" -- Intention has nothing to do with it

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It does if he is going to be accused of match fixing

Match fixing?

Harsh way of putting that he let the occasion get to him, and reffed France out of the game!

I hope that like players he has to review his performance and justify a number of decisions!

Standulstermen, I'm sure I've seen it reported that studies have been made of ref's performances, especially in home games, but I can't point to it.

thebluesmancometh wrote:Match fixing?

Harsh way of putting that he let the occasion get to him, and reffed France out of the game!

I hope that like players he has to review his performance and justify a number of decisions!

its already been mentioned in this thread so im sure we havent heard the last of it. He was poor. Thats unfortunate.