Referees boss finally backs O’Keeffe after World Cup criticism

Three months after the fact but the performance director and head of referees at World Rugby has defended Kiwi referee Ben O’Keeffe after French captain Antoine Dupont took a shot at the standard of refereeing at last year’s Rugby World Cup.

Dupont was critical of the Kiwi in the wake of his side’s one-point quarter-final loss to South Africa.

It was the first match back for Dupont, who came back from a tournament-threatening injury, but speaking after the match, he thought O’Keeffe made far too many mistakes.

“There’s a lot of frustration and disappointment. If we look again at some of the decisions maybe there will be even more. I don’t want to sound like a bitter person who complains about the refereeing, but I’m not sure the refereeing was at the highest level tonight.”

Speaking with Midi Olympique, Frenchman Joël Jutge, the head of referees at World Rugby, said Dupont’s criticism helped increase online abuse towards the Kiwi.

“As the person responsible for the referees, I cannot condone what Antoine Dupont said, because it gave rise to a movement of abuse and terrible hatred online towards Ben,” Jutge said.

“But I know the man, and I have no doubt about his moral values and the way he perceives exchanges between referees and players. He is a huge champion and a good person that we respect, but I repeat, I do not condone what he said that day, even if we all know that he was under enormous pressure to return following his injury.”

“We analyzed his performance, and after this match, the selectors and I were convinced that the defeat of the France team was not linked to his refereeing,” Jutge added.

O’Keeffe found himself at the centre of a controversial World Cup moment, with an early call favouring the Springboks kept them on track to beat the French. With the reigning champions hard on defence on their own tryline and already trailing 7-0 after just six minutes, lock Eben Etzebeth swatted at a ball that was passed by French winger Damien Penaud. The big lock was the last man in the Bok defensive line, with two French runners steaming on to the ball just metres from the tryline.

O’Keeffe ruled that the ball had been deflected backwards. A penalty decision would have possibly led to a penalty try, with the two French runners unopposed, and a likely yellow card to match the one shown to All Blacks halfback Aaron Smith in yesterday’s stunning quarter-final. The Springboks immediately went down the other end, where Etzebeth was involved again, competing for a high ball and disrupting the French defenders to allow the ball to bounce free for winger Kurt-Lee Arendse to score.

The reversal meant the World Cup hosts had gone from a 14-0 prospect to a 7-7 slugfest in less than two minutes.

O’Keeffe penalised both teams six times in an enthralling encounter, the fewest penalties of the four quarter-finals.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission