RWC 2015: Referee Craig Joubert 'should get chance to defend himself,' says former World Cup final referee Andre Watson

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Poor lad made a split-second error. My heart bleeds for him’

Referee Craig Joubert gives Sean Maitland a yellow card during Scotland's defeat to Australia (Getty Images)

Andre Watson, the only man to referee two World Cup finals, has demanded that the game’s governing body allow under-fire official Craig Joubert to defend himself, and the laws of the sport be changed to spare another referee going through the same process of vilification over an incorrect decision.

The former Australia wing David Campese led a wave of support for Joubert yesterday, calling for “someone to be shot” at World Rugby for its statement that the South African referee had been wrong to award the Wallabies’ winning penalty at the end of Sunday’s quarter-final against Scotland.

“Craig should be allowed to make a statement on what he based the call on,” Watson told The Independent. However, referees are prohibited from speaking to the media during tournaments, with any public statements restricted to World Rugby’s referee manager, Joel Jutge. “That transparency would go a long way in getting people to understand what referees have to deal with at a rate of knots.

“Criticism comes with the territory and referees know that. We wouldn’t want it any other way. There’s no way I did everything right. I would think Craig does not feel good about the decision but he’s a classy man with top integrity.

“The masses need to know whether the decision was correct or not. And, knowing Craig, I don’t believe he would have an issue with it. This is a world-class referee who made an error that was only seen after numerous autopsies.”

Watson has suffered denunciation by England for the last 12 years for his awarding of scrum penalties against them in the 2003 final with Australia. He has known the 37-year-old Joubert, who has been excluded from refereeing or running touch at this weekend’s semi-finals, since the late 1990s.

Watson, who also refereed the 1999 France v Australia final, criticised the restrictions in the use of video replay that meant Joubert could not ask for a review even when he saw evidence of a possible mistake on the big screen. “The decision should have been allowed to be reversed,” Watson said. “Unfortunately, the TMO protocol does not allow it and hence the referee is left out to hang. The governing bodies should equip the officials with the right tools to prevent wrong decisions. It is very sad that the Scots – or any team – should suffer.”

With emotion running hot after Sunday’s match the former Scotland captain Gavin Hastings demanded Joubert should never receive another international appointment, mainly in response to the referee running from the pitch.

Watson countered: “Craig is not shy to front up and I can only speculate that he did so to avoid unsavoury scenes. I rarely stayed on the pitch after the last whistle. It is not the referee’s place. And what happens if a player does not want to shake your hand?”

Campese told Talksport: “One of the biggest problems in rugby is trying to get referees and if they’re going to cop abuse – meaning there will be no referees – then we haven’t got a game. Whoever put that statement out saying the referee got it wrong should be shot.”

And another Australian leaping to Joubert’s defence was Michael Cheika, the Wallabies’ coach. “I feel for Craig – it’s so unfair. No other referee has had this stuff put out there like that. It is a bit surprising because no other decision in the tournament has been reviewed. If this is what’s going to happen, then every team will be making a list as long as their arm.”

The 1995 World Cup final referee, England’s Ed Morrison, told The Independent he did not advocate officials commenting publicly but he called for Joubert to be supported. “Craig’s quite a private person and I don’t think you would get a comment from him. The poor lad made a split-second error and my heart bleeds for him.

“I’d have loved to see Craig referee again this weekend. The reality is he isn’t going to get anything else in this World Cup. I hope he has the strength to face up to it and still want to operate at this level. I have spoken to [Joubert’s fellow World Cup referees] Wayne Barnes and Nigel Owens, and they are rallying round him. What this will do is start a new discussion about the TMO. The powers that be have to get this right.”