World Rugby admits referee made wrong call in Australia-Scotland game

World Rugby has admitted the controversial referee decision in the Australia-Scotland game was wrong. Referee Craig Joubert granted a late penalty in Sunday's game which resulted in Australia's 35-34 victory over Scotland. In a post-match review, the rugby world's official selection committee said Australia should have been granted a scrum rather than a penalty. "The selection committee confirms that Joubert applied World Rugby Law 11.7 penalising Scotland's Jon Welsh, who had played the ball following a knock-on by a team-mate, resulting in an offside," an official statement said. "On review of all available angles, it is clear that after the knock-on, the ball was touched by Australia's Nick Phipps and Law 11.3(c) states that a player can be put on-side by an opponent who intentionally plays the ball." But World Rugby clarified that "the referee could not refer to the television match official in this case and therefore had to rely on what he saw in real time."