World Rugby has not held back in a statement they've issued criticising the performance of officials in the opening weekend of the Rugby World Cup in Japan.
They claim they “were not consistently of the standards set” at the highest level of the game.
A number of controversial incidents were highlighted in the wake of the opening round of fixtures, most notably the tackle from Australia wing Reece Hodge on Fiji’s Peceli Yato that left him concussed and resulted in a post-match citing, despite the match officials insisting at the time that his tackle was legal.
A move like this from the governing body has never been seen before and World Rugby says they're taking steps to improve the standard of refereeing going forward.
Theie is a team of 23 match officials at the tournament and it's believed that initial challenges with the use of technology and team communication are being addressed.
The statement read:
“Following the usual review of matches, the match officials team recognise that performances over the opening weekend of Rugby World Cup 2019 were not consistently of the standards set by World Rugby and themselves, but World Rugby is confident of the highest standards of officiating moving forward.
“Given this proactive approach, a strong team ethic and a superb support structure, World Rugby has every confidence in the team to ensure that Rugby World Cup 2019 delivers the highest levels of accurate, clear and consistent decision-making.”
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