Felipe Contepomi fumes over ‘frustrating’ officiating and wants ‘clarity’ for Wallabies rematch

Argentina head coach Felipe Contepomi has hit out at the refereeing of Paul Williams and the rest of his officiating team during his team’s narrow defeat against Australia in Townsville last week.

The Wallabies clinched a thrilling 28-24 victory courtesy of an Angus Bell try after the full-time siren had gone.

This, after the home side’s captain Harry Wilson had on three occasions declined the chance to draw the game by slotting kickable penalties, instead opting to kick for touch or take a tap penalty.

Los Pumas conceded several offside penalties during that period which angered Contepomi and he laid into New Zealander Williams during his team announcement on Thursday for this Saturday’s rematch between Argentina and Australia at Allianz Stadium in Sydney.

A game of two halves

It was very much a game of two halves as far as discipline was concerned in Townsville with the visitors losing the second half penalty count 8-2, after the Wallabies lost the first half 8-3 as Argentina held a 21-7 lead at the interval.

Contepomi did not hold back when speaking about that result with Williams and the rest of his officiating team bearing the brunt of his criticism.

“The referee, I would say the team of four, with the touch judges and the TMO, which we also did not control, it left us a little frustrated without a doubt,” he said.

“It hurts, it’s a frustration from our side that we are a little tired of receiving responses in the week after the match: ‘yes, we were confused, our mistake, apologies’.

“Those things have to be better. There’s a huge amount of work to be done here, especially by the players who work hard.

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“In that sense, I think consistency and a little more clarity in certain decisions are needed, because if we look at the matches, in the last two years there were five matches that were decided in the last two or three minutes, and in all five there were controversial decisions in the last few minutes. And unfortunately, those decisions went against us.

‘Hopefully that day will come’

“So it leaves a bit of bitterness, actually frustration. Now, we can’t control that, so we have to hope that they continue doing the right work and seek that continuous improvement. Hopefully that day will come.

“There were five offsides called against us, four offside advantages. Surprisingly, Australia didn’t commit any offside penalties and there were no offside advantages from their side either.

“In that back-and-forth, when they come and tell you: ‘Yes, we were bad.’

“There were decisions; beyond those offside things, I can go on to two or three decisions that don’t exactly define matches, but they change the course. There’s frustration. Luckily, there’s dialogue, but yes, it hurts.”

Although he was unhappy with the officiating, Contepomi stressed that his team must improve in this weekend’s Rugby Championship rematch.

“I’d like to clarify that we’ve made a lot of mistakes and we’re always very self-critical. We’re constantly looking for improvement and trying to improve what we can control, which is our performance,” he said.

“Then there are variables beyond your control, including your opponent. Australia played a great game and has very good players and an excellent head coach. You can’t take any credit away from them because they went out to win the game and won it.”

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