England won't make official complaint about Pascal Gauzere
England have opted against lodging an official complaint to World Rugby over the performance of Pascal Gauzere in Saturday’s 40-24 defeat by Wales.
Gauzere awarded Wayne Pivac’s Grand Slam hopefuls two highly-dubious tries in the opening half an hour of the Guinness Six Nations clash at the Principality Stadium, the first of which was particularly controversial.
Former England captain Martin Johnson described the French official’s decision to allow Josh Adams’ 17th-minute touch down as “appalling refereeing”, while even ex-Wales skipper Sam Warburton admitted Eddie Jones’ team were right to be “livid”.
However, the PA news agency understands Jones will not be making a formal complaint to the sport’s global governing body amid widespread condemnation of Gauzere’s display.
Even the following morning, debate continues over whether Liam Williams’ 30th-minute try was legitimate because of a likely knock-on by Louis Rees-Zammit during the build-up.
But Adams’ score was more cut and dry with England captain Owen Farrell addressing his team over their indiscipline as instructed by Gauzere only for the referee to quickly restart play, allowing Dan Biggar to hoist the scoring crossfield kick.
The visitors, including their wings Jonny May and Anthony Watson, had moved infield to hear Farrell speak and there were a number of water carriers on the pitch when Gauzere blew his whistle. A frustrated Farrell protested to Gauzere but was dismissed.
“They’re huge decisions. We can’t debate it, we are not allowed to debate it. All I will end up with is a fine and that wont help anyone,” Jones said after the game.
“They get points maybe they don’t deserve and we have to fight to get back into the game. It makes it difficult and you have to be good enough to overcome it.”
“Whenever you get beaten and bettered by a penalty, then discipline is an issue. But there were bigger issues in the game than that, and I will let you discuss them.”
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I thought you meant in europe. Because all of the reasons theyre different I wouldn't correlate that to mean for europe, as in french broadcasters pay two or three times as much as the UK or SA broadcasters do, like they do for their league.
With France, it's not just about viewers, they are also paying much more. So no doubt there will be a hit (to the amount the French teams receive for only playing a fraction of it) but they may not care too much as long as the big clubs, the top 8 for example, enter the meaty end, and it wouldn't have the same value to them as the top14 contract/compensation does. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if the 3 separate networks broadcast deals only went to the clubs in their regions as well (that's how SR ended up (unbalanced) I believe).
Go to commentsHis best years were 2018 and he wasn't good enough to win the World Cup in 2023! (Although he was voted as the best player in the world in 2023)
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