World Rugby have released a statement this evening following a performance review of the match officials from the World Cup quarter-finals clarifying Craig Joubert’s controversial offside call in the 78th minute of the clash between Scotland and Australia, which allowed Australia to take a one-point lead and win the match.
The match official selection committee confirmed that Joubert awarded the penalty under World Rugby Law 11.7, which states, “When a player knocks-on and an offside team-mate next plays the ball, the offside player is liable to sanction if playing the ball prevented an opponent from gaining an advantage.”
Using this law Joubert penalised Scotland’s Jon Welsh, who played the ball after a teammate knocked the ball on thus putting him in an offside position.
After analysis, the selection committee has disagreed with Joubert’s decision. Instead deeming that instead what should have been used was Law 11.3(c), which states, “When an opponent intentionally touches the ball but does not catch it, the offside player is put onside.”
Upon reviewing the angles, the committee concluded that the ball was touched by Australia’s Nick Phipps, therefore bringing Welsh back onside.
If Joubert had been aware of the ball touching Phipps then the resulting action would have been a scrum to Australia, rather than a kick at goal.
The committee also made aware that the referee could not have used the TMO, only what he and the sideline officials saw in real-time.
Despite his mistake, High-Performance Match Official Manager has stated, “Craig has been and remains a world-class referee and important member of our team.”
