Top 10 Rugby World Cup villains: All Blacks, Jonny Wilkinson, Wayne Barnes and other spoilers

EVERY tournament needs a bad guy (or guys). But who makes our list of the biggest Rugby World Cup villains from each edition of the event to date?

England's fly-half Jonny Wilkinson kicks the ball during the England v Romania 2011 Rugby World Cup pool B match at Otago St...

EVERY tournament needs a bad guy (or guys). But who makes our list of the biggest Rugby World Cup villains from each edition of the event to date?

1987

David Codey: The first Australian to be sent off in a Test match, flanker Codey left his side a man short for all but five minutes of the third-placed playoff against Wales in Rotorua.

Codey had been warned by referee Fred Howard for rucking a Welshman in the first minute of play, and when he did it again in the fifth, Howard brandished the red card.

The Wallabies did well to fight to a 21-16 lead with two minutes left but ran out of gas as Wales scored a try and converted from the sideline to win 22-21 and claim the bronze.

END GAME: Has USA cameo put Genia in World Cup box-seat?

WALLABIES: Cheika taking pack mentality in to World Cup

1991

The All Blacks: New Zealand rolled into Dublin late for the semi-final and did the bare minimum in terms of fan engagement and media duties. Australia, on the other hand, had been camped there all week and charmed the locals, chatting easily with them in streets and pubs.

By the time the semi rolled around, the Wallabies were essentially playing as the home team and stormed to victory.

Daniel Dubroca: The France coach was so incensed after his side lost to England in the quarter-final that he grabbed referee David Bishop around the throat in the tunnels afterwards.

Dubroca actually tried to claim that he was congratulating Bishop on his performance, but was forced to resign the next day.

1995

Falamani Mafi: The big Tongan lock stomped on the head of rival Frenchman Philippe Benetton in Pretoria, but referee Steve Lander had a case of mistaken identity and sent off Mafi’s teammate Feleti Mahoni instead.

The stomp left Benetton clutching his face, lying prone on the ground to receive treatment.

1999

France: Never before, or since, has a captain threatened to pull his team off the field as Australian skipper John Eales did in the 1999 World Cup final.

Eales was responding to atrocious tactics by the French team to put Australia off, including eye-gouging players and squeezing their testicles. Eales told referee Andre Watson that if the French continued with it, he’d march his team off the Cardiff pitch.

2003

England: Referee Steve Walsh was suspended over this brouhaha, which saw England illegally field an extra man for a moment in their match against Samoa.

Walsh was stood down for a game for arguing with England’s fitness coach Dave Reddin after the Poms illegally fielded a 16th player.

England sent on winger Dan Luger against the orders of match officials and briefly had 16 players on the field, with Luger making a tackle before he was hauled back off.

Walsh blew up at Reddin and his colourfully-worded spray resulted in a three-day suspension. He was due to referee the coming match between France and USA but was forced to sit out, returning for the quarter-final. Reddin and fellow assistant coach Paul Stridgeon were banned from the sidelines for two games over the affair.

2007

Wayne Barnes: The referee received death threats after his controversial performance during New Zealand’s shock loss to France in the quarter-final.

Barnes dubiously sent Kiwi centre Luke McAlister to the sin-bin, then earned the ire of every New Zealander forever more by allowing a forward pass that led to France’s match-winning try. Eventually, Kiwi Prime Minister Helen Clarke had to publicly rebuke the internet trolls in her country who were threatening Barnes harm.

2011

Quade Cooper: Every which way he turned in New Zealand, Kiwi-born Cooper endured a hellish reception.

It was partly for his kneeing the head of local royalty Richie McCaw, and shoving him too, in previous games. But it was also partly to do with the fear New Zealanders had of what he might do to the All Blacks, having guided Queensland to a memorable Super Rugby win and then Australia to the Rugby Championship title that same year.

Sadly for Cooper, the jeering at Eden Park in the semi-final against the hosts was relentless and he choked under the pressure in an error-strewn performance that helped the All Blacks advance to the final.

Jonny Wilkinson: England’s hero in their triumphant 2003 campaign earned the ire of many when it was revealed he had been “ball switching” for conversions in a match against Romania in Dunedin.

Of the eight match balls for use, Wilkinson preferred two in particular to kick goals with. But the rules state that the ball used to score a try must be the same used to take the conversion.

However, England coaching staff members Dave Alred and Paul Stridgeon sneakily swapped the balls used for tries with the ones Wilkinson preferred to kick for two conversions.

The pair were reprimanded but Wilkinson escaped any penalty.

Bryce Lawrence: Rarely has there been a more hateful campaign waged at one individual by an entire nation, than what referee Lawrence copped from South African fans after his performance during their infamous quarter-final loss to Australia.

Some Springboks fans threatened Lawrence on social media, to the point he could no longer safely referee in South Africa, and thus he was forced to prematurely end his career.

Boks supporters said Lawrence allowed Australia, and particularly David Pocock, to get away with murder at the breakdown while ignoring blatant penalty offences by the Wallabies. Lawrence later admitted he had a poor game and refereed hesitantly because an ARU chief executive had criticised his performance of a previous game between Australia and Ireland.

Originally published as Top 10 Rugby World Cup villains: All Blacks, Jonny Wilkinson, Wayne Barnes and other spoilers