Fiji captain's wild referee spray amid 'disgraceful' uproar against England

Fiji's captain Waisea Nayacalevu has claimed that unconscious refereeing bias was partially responsible for his side's narrow loss to England in the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals on Sunday. Fiji went down 30-24 in Marseille despite scoring more tries than their opposition with England captain Owen Farrell kicking 20 points, including five penalties in their win.

Post-game Nayacalevu was demoralised and confused by some contentious calls including the sin-binning of Fijian winger Vinaya Habosi in the first half for a head-on-head contact and with the refereeing of the breakdown by French ref Mathieu Raynal. “I’m very emotional at the moment, a lot has been happening in the week, and I’m just proud of the boys,” said Nayacalevu.

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“A few calls didn’t go our way. We’re just fighting, I just ask that we can have a fair decision when the team plays,” he stated. Already the ruck was formed and (England’s Maro) Itoje just came in and grabbed the ball — three times in the game.”

When pushed on whether he believed there was an unconscious bias by referees towards bigger nations, Nayacalevu said he thought that was clear to see. “Absolutely! You guys watched the game, you guys can answer that,” he said. “It kills the momentum of our game, of what we want to play, if you know what I mean.”

Officials called into question during England win

Fans flocked to social media to call out the officiating that many believed cost Fiji a spot in the semi and it isn't the first time this tournament where England's reffing favours have been called into question. After Samoa fell 18-17 to England in Samoa's final Rugby World Cup pool match, coach Seilala Mapusua queried whether Samoans and other tier two nations are suffering from an “unconscious bias’’ from match officials.

"I believe there is (unconscious bias),” he said. “I believe there has been in the past. I don't think it's anyone's fault; it's what I've seen in our game for I don't know how many years; since I was playing."

Samoa captain Michael Ala’alatoa agreed with his coach’s comments. “Do referees have (an unconscious bias) when tier two sides play tier one sides? A lot of the guys are (club) teammates," he said.

Fiji coach refuses to blame referee in England defeat

Fiji coach Simon Raiwalui refused to blame Raynal and said his team had failed to take their chances. “The referees do a great job, it’s the hardest position, you’re isolated,” said Raiwalui, who has played and coached in France.

“Sure, there’s things that you contest, there’s things that you maybe don’t agree with, but first and foremost we had opportunities to score, we had opportunities to win the game.” In Raiwalui’s opinion, Fiji let themselves down with their first half discipline. “A loss is a loss, it’s disappointing. We didn’t help ourselves in the first half,” Raiwalui said.

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