Ireland coach Joe Schmidt says World Rugby has confirmed that there were three incorrect offsides calls in their shock loss to Japan.
World Cup hosts Japan produced one of the upsets of the tournament by claiming a 19-12 win over Ireland, who were favourites to progress to the playoffs unbeaten.
The game was refereed by Angus Gardner, who was assisted by Jerome Garces and Matthew Carley. Garces will be in charge of Ireland’s next match against Russia on Thursday.
After submitting his referee review to World Rugby in the aftermath of that result, Schmidt was told in the feedback from the governing body that his side was incorrectly penalised on three occassions.
‘We were penalised for offside four times and we’ve now got the feedback that three of those were incorrect calls,’ Schmidt was quoted by The 42. ‘People were asking us about our discipline.
‘It’s pretty hard to keep getting off the line and on to the front foot when you are getting those calls. Two of them were from an assitant referee who is going to be refereeing us on Thursday [Jerome Garces], so we know we’re going to have to be on our best behaviour.
‘One thing I would say about this team is that, generally speaking, it’s unusual for us to have a higher penalty count than our opponents, so it’s frustrating.’
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Ireland have named returning flyhalf Johnny Sexton as their captain for Thursday’s match, in which they will look to get their bid to top Pool A back on track.
Photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images
