South African supporters (and coaches) may have the strongest reputation for complaining about refereeing decisions, but it was the turn of France and their fans after last night's epic Rugby World Cup loss to take up that mantle.
Some of the main arguments against referee Ben O'Keefe involved Eben Etzebeth's knock down, Cheslin Kolbe's conversion block, and Kwagga Smith's late penalty.
One France rugby fan, @KelianCa07, was particularly displeased and took to Twitter to produce a Rassie Erasmus-esque thread at all the decisions she felt that were unfairly called against their side.
France Supporters Not Happy With Ben O'Keefe After Rugby World Cup Loss
[THREAD]
Les erreurs d’arbitrages du match #FRAAFS en 1/4 de finale de la #Coupedumondederugby
— Kelian Cattaneo (@KelianCa07) October 15, 2023
READ HERE: Viewers In Awe Of Cheslin Kolbe After Clutch Play Helps South Africa Dump Out France
Many France rugby supporters were in agreement, with some of their translated responses below:
"Great work to which we can add the multiple and countless fouls in the ruck zones where the tackler does not come out."
"Thanks for the compilation,
You really have to be in bad faith to say that the arbitration was correct"
"17th minute we are entitled to a head-first clearing in Danty's face, copied/pasted from the red card from the Marseille match last year but no penalty (incidentally the Replay deliberately cuts the moment of direct impact head in slow motion)"
Hors-jeu a reprise sur les coups d’envois sud-africain. Dur à siffler certes…sauf quand c’est la 3e fois. pic.twitter.com/LI7ObEVOwv
— Kelian Cattaneo (@KelianCa07) October 15, 2023
Quelques secondes plus tard, grattage accordé à Vermeulen a 40m de sa ligne. Les mains sont clairement au sol. pic.twitter.com/CaWHpp2Buk
— Kelian Cattaneo (@KelianCa07) October 15, 2023
Premier raffut, coude en avant, de Kriel. Non sifflé ou vérifié par les arbitres. Pénalité France pic.twitter.com/jaJg8pRYFz
— Kelian Cattaneo (@KelianCa07) October 15, 2023
Overall, most of the rugby world seems to be in agreement that O'Keefe did a fine job in an intensely pressurised environment.
As with most games these days, a similar thread could be made for the grievances of the South Africans, who also had some questionable ruck decisions go against them.
The thread above also has some clear bias, while the use of stills fails to create a clear picture for some of the situations.
SEE ALSO: Antoine Dupont Hits Out At The Standard Of Refereeing After France Knocked Out Of RWC
