The initial social media reaction, especially in Australia, was one of outrage when French referee Mathieu Raynal ruled that Wallabies flyhalf Bernard Foley had deliberately wasted time to wind down the clock in the final minute of the Bledisloe Cup and Rugby Championship match against the All Blacks in Melbourne.
The Wallabies had fought back from losing three players to yellow-card offences and a 31-13 deficit to lead 37-34. The All Blacks, who had the chance to level from a penalty in the final minute, opted for an attempt to score a try. They failed and Australia won a penalty.
What followed was a first in my 30 years of reporting on Test rugby. In the most pivotal moment of the Test, Raynal overturned the penalty because of time-wasting, and from the resulting scrum the All Blacks scored a match-winning and Bledisloe Cup title winning try.
Chaos followed in protests and the immediate reaction was to condemn referee interpretation, the madness of such inconsistency in interpretation and how world rugby would now react to any player taking a few more seconds to count down a clock.
But this was anything but a knee-jerk and spontaneous reaction from Raynal, it was match officiating at its finest.
Foley, the Wallabies No 10, was given ample time to play, several warnings and instructions to play and make the kick.
Raynal applied the law, without malice or agenda.
Audio from the final two minutes justifies the accuracy of Raynal’s interpretation and the legitimacy of his action.
This was a golden moment for rugby referees.
The transcript, from the moment Australia were awarded the penalty in that final minute, embarrasses Foley and lauds Raynal.
Foley asks: “Is this the mark here?”
Raynal: “Yeah, play on please. We play. We play.”
Foley doesn’t play on.
Raynal: “Time off.”
Foley: “Ok.”
Raynal: “We play.”
Foley: “Ok. We have just got a lot of finishers [referring to the substitutes on the field].
Raynal is not interested: “No. No. I will switch on the time and we play NOW.”
Foley: “Ok.”
Raynal: ‘TIME ON.”
Foley: “Ok.’’
Foley still doesn’t play. He turns away from Raynal and faces his [forwards] teammates, who are in a huddle preparing for the pending lineout.
This lasts five seconds.
An agitated Raynal screams at [No 10] Foley. “TEN!”
And he gestures him to play.
Foley ignores him.
All Foley’s backline teammates are screaming for him to kick.
Still Foley doesn’t react.
Another five seconds passes, and a fed-up referee blows the whistle for time wasting, overturns the penalty and awards the All Blacks a scrum.
Foley is incredulous.
Raynal is having none of it: “I told you to. I told you to.”
Foley (incorrectly claims): “Time is off.”
Raynal again stops the clock while Foley argues and says: “Time off.”
Foley: “This is a huge moment.”
Raynal (calmly). “Let me explain it.”
Raynal reiterates to all the players: “Time is off. Time off.”
Foley screams at Raynal: “Time was off.”
Raynal: “No. No. I switched on the time.”
Foley: “Time was off.”
Raynal: “Can I finish?”
Foley: “Time was off. I am not wasting time. I was about to kick it.”
Raynal then asks Nic White, positioned alongside Foley, if he was the on-field captain. White says: “This is a big moment. He was just about to kick it.”
Raynal: (sic) No captain. I said first, we play. Then I time off. I switch off the time. I say to your player that I switch on the time. I say to your player I switch on the time and you play immediately. He wait. He wait. He wait. So that is a scrum for the All Blacks.”
• Mark Keohane is the founder of keo.co.za, a multiple award-winning sports writer and the digital content director at Highbury Media. Twitter: @mark_keohane
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