French referee Pascal Gauzere has conceded he made mistakes in his handling of England’s 40-24 defeat to Wales, according to World Rugby’s head of match officials Joel Jutge.
Jutge, speaking to Midi Olympique, said the two spoke on the phone on Sunday about the controversial first-half calls from Saturday’s game — Jutge in his interview refers to “two unfortunate events” from the first half.
The first came after Wales were awarded a penalty in front of England’s posts. Gauzere gave England captain Owen Farrell permission to speak with his players, but as they were breaking out of the huddle, England were unprepared for quick-thinking Dan Biggar’s cross-field kick that Josh Adams collected in acres of space. Farrell’s complaints about the first incident were brushed away by Gauzere.
The second incident Jutge is referring to concerns when Gauzere awarded Wales’ second try after checking for a knock on from Louis Rees-Zammit in the build-up to Liam Williams’ score.
“I believe one has to be transparent and not let things drag on and say what one thinks,” Jutge said to French newspaper, Midi Olympique.
“There were two unfortunate events during the match which were tough cases to handle. Gauzere recognised as such when he spoke to me on the phone.
“With regard to the second try, I think there is a tendency to refer to the TMO too often when one can make the call oneself on the pitch and stick with it, which if Pascal had whistled for a knock-on there would have meant no appeal by the TMO to review it.
“Pascal was the first to admit to this when he re-watched the match on Sunday. When one commits an error one should be transparent about it. Despite this he is still an excellent international referee.”
England have not submitted a formal complaint to World Rugby.
Information from Reuters contributed to this report.