Ireland renewed acquaintances with defeat this morning in Brisbane, slumping to an 18-9 loss to Australia. Ireland were left to rue some sloppy errors but also had some grievances with the referee and the zeal of his TMO. While his spotting Coleman's late tackle on Iain Henderson worked in Ireland's favour as it denied Isral Folau a try, Ireland were then royally horsed by the referee when he penalised Jacob Stockdale for hands in the ruck, in spite of the fact that the Ulster winger had released the ball. That penalty ended with David Pocock crossing the white line to take the game beyond Ireland.
After the game, Joe Schmidt mustered as much po-faced diplomacy as he could, but his frustrations at the officials were clear. In addition to the Stockdale issue, Schmidt was also irked at the question the referee asked when reviewing the putative Stander try. Rather than ask if there was any reason he couldn't award the try, Marius van der Westhuizen asked 'Try: Yes or No?'
Watch the Joe Schmidt interview below.
Joe Schmidt interview
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