Referee Craig Joubert has faced widespread criticism for the last minute penalty he awarded that gave Australia a 35-34 victory over Scotland in their World Cup quarter-final on Sunday.  (Reuters)

AFP/London


Embattled World Cup referee Craig Joubert received a vote of confidence from Australia coach Michael Cheika yesterday despite them having crossed swords in the past.
Joubert has faced widespread criticism in Britain for the last minute penalty he awarded that gave Australia a 35-34 victory over Scotland in their World Cup quarter-final on Sunday.  
Cheika said Joubert—who was also criticised for not awarding a penalty in the 2011 World Cup final, in which New Zealand beat France 8-7 — was being unfairly pilloried for his decision to award the penalty for offside. Cheika said decisions had to be accepted in sport.
“What sort of offence? He gave it as a penalty,” Cheika told a press conference. “It has been pretty interesting over the past  week to see how things have gone down re officials and decisions, I have had my own issues in the past with officialdom.
“No one’s congratulated Joubert about picking up the knock on before a try we scored (Adam Ashley-Cooper’s disallowed try in the second-half in the quarter-final) and going back to the TMO. Some decisions you get, some you don’t,” added Cheika.
“Rugby is a sport where everything is up for interpretation, every line ball is contested. I thought we should have had a couple of penalties at the scrum in the second half but we didn’t get them.”
Cheika said he had tackled the South African over a call he made in a Super Rugby match last season when the Australia was in charge of The NSW Waratahs against Otago Highlanders.  
“Joubert refereed a semi-final of Super Rugby when I was coaching at NSW and he sent off one of our players (sin-binning Jacques Potgieter) and gave a penalty try for a high tackle when the player was 20 centimetres off the ground,” said Cheika.
“When I talked to him afterwards he backed it up clearly in the very methodical way he makes his decisions. As frustrated as I was I had to wear that even though it cost us big time in the game.” The defending champions lost 35-17.
“He has a method. I don’t like the way that people are making something out of how he ran off the field like, I think you have to assess things for what they are and not the more romantic nature or that extra bit. He is just a human being like you and I are.”
Cheika, now preparing his side to take on Argentina in the semi-finals at Twickenham on Sunday, said he did not feel sorry for Joubert either.  
“No I don’t feel sorry for anyone, for them (the Scots), for us, for him this is just a game and every decision is open to intepretation,” said Cheika.
“I don’t know if you have seen that You Tube clip where everyone is watching the ballet and a bear runs across the middle and no one even watches it (the bear) because they are so focussed on what is happening.
“It is a bit of an optical illusion thing, when you want to see something in a certain way you will see it that way.
“I am just as guilty as anyone, for example penalties when we kicked off after they had scored a try. I got up as the linesman ruled it a knock on and I jumped up and said ‘that’s not a knock’ on then I looked at it and you could interpret it as a knock on.”