Tokyo (AFP)

Sanction or not punishment? And which one? The French referee Romain Poite had a great time before penalizing the Australian Samu Kerevi, author of a sharp bend forward Sunday during the defeat of the Wallabies against Welsh (29-25) in the World Cup.

In the 38th minute, Kerevi gets rid of Welsh Rhys Patchell by a blow with his arm, which holds the ball, in opposition. Does he raise his elbow to the neck of the Welsh opener? This is the question that Mr. Poite, his assistant referee and the video referee (TMO) took several minutes to answer.

The bend with the elbow is forbidden but the action was not obvious even in slow motion.

World Rugby's guidelines for eliminating dangerous moves at the World Cup undoubtedly played a role in the lengthy decision-making of highly experienced referee Mr. Poite (more than 60 international matches run since 2006). Decision followed by such a long talk with Australian captain Michael Hooper on the pitch.

"Does that mean you can not protect yourself with your arm (when you hit)?" Hooper asked the official. "The problem is that in a second time, he touched the opponent in the throat," said Mr. Poite, who finally awarded a penalty to the Welsh without yellow card for Kerevi.

The penalty was successful by the Welsh, finally victorious (29-25).

This incident provoked sharp comments. Patchell "did not show great technical mastery over his tackle and fell on his back, I do not know what Kerevi could have done," pleaded after the Hooper match, which discussed moment with Mr. Poite "to be sure that this does not happen again in the future".

- Referees "scared"? -

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika found a resemblance between Patchell's and Reece Hodge's veneers on Fijian Peceli Yato, which earned the Australian winger three-game suspension. "It's funny because I thought I had already seen this veneer, it was perhaps Reece Hodge," the Australian coach said ironically, "embarrassed" by the decision of the referee.

The pressure on arbitration, reinforced Tuesday by a statement to the unusual tone of World Rugby acknowledging that mistakes had been made whistle since the beginning of the tournament, annoys Cheika. "I do not understand anymore, they (the referees) all look scared, everybody looks worried, a little too much, I do not know why they are worried, the players are not," he stressed

The decision had an impact on the meeting, the three points listed costing the Wallabies in the end. Can it make jurisprudence against World Rugby's campaign against veneers and dangerous gestures? "It complicates what we do," said the main stakeholder, Kerevi.

Like Hooper, Australian back Dane Haylett-Petty simply wants referees to be "consistent". "That's all the players are asking for," added Wallabies No.15. "If it has to be arbitrated like that all the time, then we know it."

Arbitration has not finished making people talk about it in Japan.

© 2019 AFP