Fans hilariously tear into World Rugby after World Cup final ‘leak’

Jared Wright
A picture of All Blacks' scrumhalf Aaron Smith scoring a try which is ruled out for a knock-on following a TMO review during the Rugby World Cup 2023 final match with a screenshot of a tweet that reads: "World Rugby has privately admitted to me that based on the blood work they've received. Handré Pollard does in fact have ice in his veins"

New Zealand's Aaron Smith scores a try which is ruled out for a knock-on following a TMO review during the Rugby World Cup 2023 final match at the Stade de France in Paris, France.

World Rugby is a hot topic with fans once again following a report stating that Aaron Smith’s try in the World Cup final should not have been disallowed.

On Tuesday, Stuff.co.nz reported that “World Rugby has privately acknowledged to the All Blacks that the ruling out of Aaron Smith’s try in the final was, in fact, outside the rules.”

Following the report, fans have been quick to turn the phrase into a meme with countless posts on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

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Scottish content creator Graham Love quickly made reference to Scotland’s 2015 Rugby World Cup quarter-final defeat to Australia.

In that instance, referee Craig Joubert had incorrectly, by World Rugby’s omission, awarded Australia a match-winning penalty instead of a scrum following a knock-on by the Scots.

“World Rugby told me they’re glad the TMO didn’t check to see if there was a knock-on when we played Australia in 2015,” Love joked.

Connacht and Ireland fan The 2nd Row joked that Ireland had, in fact, won the World Cup.

Their post read: “World rugby have secretly revealed to me that Ireland actually won the world cup because they were the only team to beat South Africa. You heard Johnny ‘we lost but we won’.

AP Cronje, meanwhile, posted this clip after yet another ‘leak’, this after French publication Midi Olympique published details of the referee review from the quarter-final between South Africa and France.

Several South Africans were quick to get their jokes in.

“World Rugby has admitted that the 1987 World Cup was just a trial run and shouldn’t count as the real thing,” @scrumming_ten wrote.

Journalist Brenden Nel added: “A source at World Rugby told me that the 2007 forward pass missed by Wayne Barnes had actually not travelled forward, but was a wrong tv angle. If they had had a TMO he would have awarded the try anyway.”

After his heroics during the 2019 and 2023 Rugby World Cup, Handre Pollard was also thrown into the mix.

“World Rugby has privately admitted to me that based on the blood work they’ve received. Handré Pollard does in fact have ice in his veins,” @Spring_n_Boks posted.

Not even the all-time great Barbarians try was safe from the jokes.

“A source inside @WorldRugby confirmed to me privately that he thinks the pass from Derek Quinnell to Gareth Edwards during the “Greatest Try in Rugby” in 1973 for the @Barbarian_FC against @AllBlacks was forward out the hand and should have been disallowed,” Sportbilly posted.

Nor was the 2006 Heineken Cup final.

“A source inside World Rugby has confirmed to me that Sireli Bobo’s foot was in touch in the 2006 Heineken Cup final and his try shouldn’t have stood. Good. This is good,” Three Red Kings added.

While many fans dug into the World Cup archives for their jokes, one opted to address a more social debate.

“Breaking News: World Rugby has privately admitted that pineapple does in fact not belong on a pizza,” their post read.

READ MORE: Damian Willemse breaks Rugby World Cup record after Springboks victory

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