'Really messy': Extraordinary 'racism' theory rocks Wallabies controversy
Australians are still fuming about the 'disgraceful' penalty against Samu Kerevi in the Wallabies' loss to Wales.
And they're not alone, with a New Zealand rugby reporter also taking aim at whistle-blowers.
The officiating at the Rugby World Cup has again been slammed after Wallabies centre Kerevi was inexplicably pinged in Australia's 29-25 defeat to Wales.
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Kerevi was penalised while in possession after the arm not carrying the ball made contact with the throat area of Welsh five-eighth Rhys Patchell.
The Aussies justifiably argued it was the poor tackling technique of Patchell that was to blame.
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika was absolutely disgusted with that and several other calls after giving officials an angry post-match spray.
However, in an explosive twist to the drama, Newshub rugby reporter Ross Karl suggested something more sinister was at hand than simply bad refereeing.
"In some cases, you feel that these decisions are a little bit racist," Karl said.
"You look at Samu Kerevi and you look at the way some of the Polynesian players are treated in this tournament, in comparison to the way that Piers Francis got off his call - you do feel there's a lot of people getting hard done by here," he added.
“The call on Samu Kerevi was an absolute shocker. If you can’t carry a ball into a tackle without getting penalised for it, I don’t know what’s happening to this game,”
“It’s really messy.”
Karl was referring to another controversial incident in the first seven seconds of England's win against the USA.
England inside centre Francis escaped sanction altogether after flattening America's Will Hooley with a shoulder to his opponent's head.
World Rugby denied any suggestion of racism from its referees but said it was "disappointed" by some of the officiating at the tournament.
Aussie coach ‘embarrassed’ by refereeing decisions
Wallabies coach Chieka says referees are "spooked" by their bosses and it cost his side big time in their dramatic loss to Wales.
A stirring fightback wasn't enough on Sunday at Tokyo Stadium, as Australia battled back in vain from 18 points down soon after halftime, closing to within a point entering the final 10 minutes.
They couldn't score again, an outcome that means they'll probably finish second in group D and, if other results fall as expected, face England in the quarter-finals and potentially New Zealand in the semis.
The Wallabies scored three tries to two and were the vastly superior team in the second half, but they paid for an error-riddled opening 40 minutes which lacked purpose and execution.
Their other bugbear was long delays that halted momentum, when French referee Romain Poite and Kiwi TMO Ben Skeen ruminated on a number of collision incidents.
Most rulings went against Cheika's men, most notably the Kerevi call that preceded Wales' 10-point first half spree.
It proved match-swinging as Patchell landed the subsequent penalty and a rejuvenated Wales scored a try in a key period just before halftime.
"As a former rugby player, I'm embarrassed about that," Cheika said.
"You've got to look after players but not to an extreme when you're looking after players for doctors and lawyers.
"They (match officials) all seem spooked, like they're all worried about things so much. I'm not sure why they're worried. Players aren't worried.
"They're making decisions on all types of crazy stuff."
Former Wallabies and Fox Sports commentator Phil Kearns slammed the Kerevi ruling and was just as adamant that Wales' halfback Gareth Davies should have had his converted try on the stroke of halfime ruled out.
Davies magically intercepted Will Genia's pass from a ruck and dashed 60m but Kearns said replays showed he was clearly offside.
“The whole refereeing display has been disgraceful,” Kearns said.
"It was just embarrassing that the referee hasn't gone back to look how far, he's (Davies) even 2m in front of his own defensive line that are moving up, that's an embarrassment.”
With agencies
