Former Australia head coach Alan Jones has not held back after the Wallabies’ controversial Bledisloe Cup defeat to the All Blacks on Thursday.
Dave Rennie’s men were 37-34 ahead with a minute-and-a-half of the game remaining when they were awarded a penalty five metres out from their own try-line.
All Bernard Foley needed to do was kick the ball into touch but, after being warned by referee Mathieu Raynal to speed up the process, the French official penalised the fly-half for time-wasting and awarded a scrum to New Zealand.
Last-gasp try
The visitors would go on to score in the last minute and once again retain the Bledisloe Cup, and Jones was not happy.
He felt Raynal lacked empathy and understanding for the match situation.
“Is the referee buggering up the game? Undeniably, yes,” the ex-Wallabies coach, who was in charge of the national team between 1984 and 1987, told Daily Mail Australia.
“I have little sympathy for someone running down the clock, but by the same token you would hope that the referee would have some feeling for the game.
“This isn’t the first time a team has been penalised for time-wasting but it’s the first time it has happened at such a crucial time in such an important game.”
Jones also believes that referees have an “inordinate amount of control over the game.”
“The referee is intent on blowing the whistle but you can’t argue with them because there is so much rubbish in the law book,” he said.
“That’s why AFL is so popular. The umpires don’t have to do anything. There’s no rules in Aussie Rules. It’s non-stop action.
“In rugby the referees are ruining the game. You wire them up for sound and give them power and they want to be the stars. That’s why you only get 32 minutes of actual play.
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“Why anyone thought it was a good idea to wire them up is beyond me. You wire someone up and they’ll talk. They think that the whole world wants to hear what they’ve got to say when in actual fact no-one cares, they just want to watch some football.”
Pipsqueak from Paris
Jones continued his tirade against rugby officialdom, with the former Wallabies boss venting his frustration at their handling of the scrums.
He added: “The scrums are the biggest problem. Why is a referee telling international forwards how to pack a scrum? What would he know?
“These are the best players in the world and you’ve got this little pipsqueak from Paris telling them how to scrummage. It’s ridiculous.”
That finale in Melbourne has severely hampered Australia’s Rugby Championship chances. Rennie’s charges will need to beat New Zealand in Auckland and hope other results go their way if they are to win the title.