Antoine Dupont Les Bleus Fabien Galthie Eben Etzebeth Romain Taofifenua Thomas Ramos France South Africa New Zealand Rugby World Cup Sport Rugby cup Antoine Dupont Les Bleus Fabien Galthie Eben Etzebeth Romain Taofifenua Thomas Ramos France South Africa New Zealand

Dupont questions referee after France's World Cup exit

rte.ie

Antoine Dupont criticised the standard of refereeing after France crashed out of their home World Cup with a heartbreaking single-point defeat to reigning champions South Africa in Paris.The Springboks edged an epic contest at Stade de France 29-28 to set up a semi-final showdown with England.Les Bleus captain Dupont suffered major disappointment on his highly-publicised return from a fractured cheekbone and felt substandard officiating was partly to blame.Asked about the performance of New Zealand referee Ben O'Keefe, the scrum-half replied: "Well, what did you think of it?"It's hard to talk about things because there is a lot of disappointment, a lot of frustration."There were a few clear things where the whistle wasn't blown."I don't want to be a bad loser and moan about the refereeing but I'm not sure the level of refereeing was up the level of the game today."A disconsolate Dupont was pictured with his hands on his head at full-time and was later in tears as he was embraced by his parents.The 26-year-old was back in action just 24 days since sustaining the serious facial injury which threatened to prematurely end his tournament, donning a scrum-cap for added protection.France flew out of the blocks and led 22-19 at the end of one of the most exhilarating opening 40 minutes in World Cup history in which the two teams shared six tries.Eben Etzebeth returned from the sin-bin to help South Africa over the line with the only touchdown of a tighter second period, while Les Bleus were left to rue one of Thomas Ramos' three conversion attempts being charged down by Cheslin Kolbe.France head coach Fabien Galthie revealed prop Uini Atonio and lock Romain Taofifenua, the two oldest members of his squad, will retire and

Related News
New Zealand's Ben O'Keeffe will referee Saturday's World Cup semi-final between England and holders South Africa, World Rugby said on Tuesday, despite drawing criticism for his performance in the Springboks' quarter-final against hosts France.
Antoine Dupont questioned the performance of the referee, Ben O’Keeffe, following France’s shattering quarter-final exit from the Rugby World Cup at the hands of the defending champions, South Africa.
Quarter-final weekend, as it had always threatened to, saved its best for last. An extraordinary match of fluctuating fortunes ended with French players scattered across the turf, part despair, part exhaustion, denied the chance to prevail at their own World Cup.

Latest News

Change privacy settings
This page might use cookies if your analytics vendor requires them.