Italian coach Conor O’Shea fumes at referee after controversial call against Wallabies

Italy’s coach Conor O’Shea said it was ‘beyond belief’ that referee Pascal Gauzere did not consult the television official before controversially disallowing his team a try in its defeat to Australia.

Italy coach Conor O'Shea looks on prior to the international friendly between Italy and Australia at Stadio Euganeo.

Italy’s coach Conor O’Shea said it was “beyond belief” that referee Pascal Gauzere did not consult the television official before controversially disallowing his team a try in its defeat to Australia.

Halfback Tito Tebaldi looked to have put Italy ahead in the 14th minute when he intercepted rival Jake Gordon’s long pass off a lineout and raced 30m to score under the posts.

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But Gauzere disallowed the try because Tibaldi had been outside the 15m defensive zone when the lineout throw was taken.

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika believed it to be a regulation call.

“I think he was over 15, when you’re over 15 before the lineout’s finished, that’s what happens, so, I figured that’s what it was,” Cheika said.

But O’Shea disagreed and was left fuming.

“You have to be very careful in choosing your words because my wife would be pretty annoyed if I got fined, and we don’t have that sort of money leading up to Christmas,” O’Shea said.

French referee Pascal Gauzere came under fire after the match.

“I just want the same rules for both teams.

“We just want consistency. Consistency at the breakdown, so there’s not one rule for one, and one for another.

“For the life of me, why you don’t go upstairs when it’s there, is just beyond belief. It is beyond belief.

“To get inside the mentality and to put pressure the opposition when they’re under pressure, the mentality is not the winning and losing of a match, but it is absolutely fundamental to the energy of crowd, the crowd were unbelievable today.

“But we have to control our lineout, our breakdown, our patience, our precision, our kicking game.”

Cheika refused to bite on the issue of refereeing consistency.

“Wow, I’d be in the outhouse if I pulled that one out after the game, I’ll tell you now,” Cheika said.

“It’s hard for me to talk about that stuff because I’ve had my moments where I’ve said things I didn’t want to say because of the emotion of the day. That’s the way it goes sometimes.

“I’m going to say something right now, I’m not going to talk about the referees because when we lose and I say something about the referees, I get my head ripped off. So when we win I’m not gonna say nothin’. I’m going to sit here and enjoy it.”

Originally published as Italian coach Conor O’Shea fumes at referee after controversial call against Wallabies