Rugby Australia writes to World Rugby after Bledisloe Cup refereeing furore

Rugby Australia has written to the sport’s global governing body to reiterate concerns about refereeing after the Rugby Championship test against New Zealand in Melbourne was tarnished by a contentious time-wasting decision.

The French referee, Mathieu Raynal, penalised Bernard Foley for holding up the game at Docklands last Thursday as the fly-half prepared to kick for touch from inside the Wallabies’ 22 with a minute remaining in the match.

After New Zealand were awarded a five-metre scrum in front of the posts, Jordie Barrett scored a try with the clock in the red to snatch a 39-37 victory for the All Blacks. Raynal’s decision, virtually unseen in elite rugby, was criticised by the Australia coach Dave Rennie as well as many pundits.

A Rugby Australia spokesperson on Monday confirmed it had urged World Rugby to take concerns about officiating in general seriously. “It’s not unusual, we’ve been lobbying World Rugby for some time on this,” the spokesperson said.

In recent years the increased use of the Television Match Official (TMO) to spot infringements has led to more stop-start games in elite rugby.

A lower threshold for yellow and red cards has also had an impact on the flow as the TMO and referee often assess video replays at length before making decisions.

Australia is not alone in expressing concerns about officiating. The England coach, Eddie Jones, said in July he would push for change, having become fed up with officiating delays and the “incessant” use of the TMO. The Melbourne loss saw Australia surrender the Bledisloe Cup, the trans-Tasman trophy contested annually with New Zealand, for a 20th successive year.

Though Australia felt hard done by after Raynal’s time-wasting call, a couple of Foley’s