Opinion: Felipe Contepomi rightfully ‘fed up’ as inexcusable errors mar Rugby Championship race
Filipo Daugunu of Australia and an inset of Argentina coach Felipe Contepomi.
Felipe Contepomi’s match official bashing is certainly out of order, but his complaints absolutely have merit as the Rugby Championship table has been shaped by late calls.
To be perfectly clear. Not one of the eight matches so far in the competition have been won or lost because of the officials.
South Africa were shambolic in the second half of their tournament opener against Australia and duly deserved to be emphatically put away by the Wallabies.
In the rematch in Cape Town, the Springboks were comfortably in control, and Australia had their opportunities to still snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, only for James O’Connor to miss his shots at goal.
The All Blacks dominated their opener and comfortably won the set-piece battle to maul their way to victory, and in the second Test between the two sides, Argentina were more driven and accurate to seal the win, with New Zealand left to rue their ill-discipline.
Rounds three and four were much the same, as Rassie Erasmus’ men were too inaccurate and were outsmarted by their hosts at Eden Park, but were far more disciplined and accurate in the responding fixture in Wellington.
Felipe Contepomi airs his frustrations
While Contepomi was livid with the officials in the defeat to Australia in round three, the Wallabies were bold and brave in their efforts as they overcame a 14-point half-time deficit to seal the victory. On that occasion, Los Pumas were the masters of their own demise.
12 points were enough to hold out for victory when the two sides met in Sydney seven days later, but the former fly-half was still left fuming and to a degree, he has reason to be.
“For me, it’s not about winning, it’s about how you win, how you do things. We are playing against a great team. Australia came back; they are a very good team that plays wonderful rugby, and you know we need to acknowledge that, and we don’t control that either,” Contepomi said in his post-match press conference, where he ranted about the officiating, echoing his sentiments from earlier in the week after naming his team.
“But the things that we control, our errors, we make, we take accountability. We made a lot of errors in crucial moments, and we weren’t slick enough when we were in the last five metres. We didn’t score when we had to, and those things we are going to learn, but my God, there are other things that we don’t control that I’m fed up.”
Australia had a try chalked off in the 76th minute after Fraser McReight was deemed to have thrown the ball forward in the build-up to the score – a call many deemed to be 50/50 but certainly looked more forward than flat. While that was a debatable decision from the officials, the actions leading to Filipo Daugunu’s second try was far more clear-cut.
The Wallabies were awarded a penalty when Marcos Kremer thundered into Joseph Suaalli near the halfway line, a decision awarded after TMO Glen Newman made referee Christophe Ridley aware of the actions, with a similar incident occurring in the first half with a Wallaby making the tackle, but that went unpunished.
O’Connor found touch inside Argentina’s 22 and with two minutes left on the clock, they went in search of a try that would put them in striking distance of another heroic comeback.
After a rapid few phases of attack, the Wallabies attacked the short side with O’Connor and McReight linking up brilliantly, although the first pass to the latter was forward, before Suaalli had a two-on-one with Andrew Kellaway in support. The latter managed to get his pass away with the ball clearly going forward, too, with Daugunu running in the try.
“The try is awarded, but I’ve got a feeling that one will come back,” Australian commentator Sean Maloney said.
His co-commentator and Wallabies legend Tim Horan added, “Daugunu goes over, I reckon they will have a look at this, the last pass.”
Referee Ridley orders O’Connor to wait before taking his conversion, confirming that the TMO would be reviewing the final passes, but quickly added that Newman gave the ‘all clear’ and the try stood.
Maloney was flabbergasted, simply stating, ‘Wow!’ while Horan added, ‘Well, they’ve got one away there, the Wallabies’.
Another former Wallaby, Morgan Turinui, remarked: “They must have had another angle there, boys, because I don’t know what Spanish is for ‘We were robbed’, but gee, that looked bad.
“If you are Felipe Contepomi and Argentina, you are absolutely filthy right now.”
Outrage over the forward pass
Turinui’s assumption was spot on as the Pumas boss aired his frustrations over the tackle and the passes in the build-up to the try. While it could be argued that Kellaway’s pass went forward but was backwards out of the hand, O’Connor’s was clearly forward.
“For the forward pass, I’m not frustrated. I’m frustrated that no one saw that forward pass. The TMO didn’t see it,” Contepomi said.
“I’m frustrated that the same penalty he gave in the last two minutes to go for a lineout was exactly the same as not even a head knock [earlier], how? There’s no consistency.
“I’m frustrated on consistency. Same action in the first half, it’s play on or similar, not saying because there’s never same action, but similar actions are play on, here penalty, so it’s hard. It’s hard.”
What adds further salt into the head coach’s wounds is that despite the win, Argentina remain at the foot of the Rugby Championship table. Daugunu’s second try not only made it a two-point game after O’Connor’s conversion but meant that the Wallabies were set to earn two bonus points from the fixture – the first for losing by seven or fewer points and the second for outscoring Argentina by three or more tries.
The 2025 Rugby Championship standings after four rounds of action.
That try effectively secured two log points for the Wallabies and puts them in the driving seat ahead of the final fortnight of action. It may all prove to be academic in the grand scheme of things as Australia face off against the All Blacks in rounds five and six, but one cannot make those assumptions with the manner in which this Rugby Championship has unfolded.
Ultimately, Argentina are now two points off the pace-setters instead of the one which would have been the case had the try not been scored and Los Pumas managed to keep the scores at 19-28 until the final whistle. Instead, the TMO’s decision to ignore the forward passes and allow the try has clearly influenced the Rugby Championship title race.
There will be those who will argue that one cannot ‘cherry-pick’ calls to fit an argument, and the likes of South Africa, Argentina or New Zealand could easily top the standings had they performed better in the matches they lost during the first two rounds, but none had such a clear and obvious impact.
After the try, Los Pumas were never going to risk defeat to deny the Wallabies defeat, particularly because they were unable to unlock Australia’s defence well enough to score a try in the final knockings of the game. That is the ‘accountability’ and moments where Argentina ‘weren’t slick enough’ Contepomi referred to, but ultimately, they were good enough to get the victory they deserved, but not the log standing.
World Rugby and SANZAAR’s role
There are multiple factors to consider here that has led to the error from the officials. One of them is the onus on the officials to make quick and swift decisions and not to mull over calls, something that World Rugby has pressed for with their updated TMO protocols and constant need to speed up the game. Another is the seemingly consistent overlooking of forward passes being ignored in the Rugby Championship – a theme that has carried over from Super Rugby, colloquially known in some quarters as ‘Super Rugby flat’.
There were a handful of examples in round four of forward passes simply being overlooked, but had almost no bearing on the overall match, while there was a plethora of examples the weekend prior.
But none occurred at such a pivotal moment in the match and had such an impact on the standings as the one in Sydney, which earned two points for the Wallabies. It was clear that Newman picked up on the possibility of a forward pass, and while he did review it, he came to the incorrect decision. The fact that he did not prompt Ridley to review the call himself is frankly inexcusable. It would be entirely understandable that the Englishman could have missed the pass, considering that he charged up and down the pitch for 78 minutes prior and looked to have his view impeded by Harry Wilson and Pedro Rubiolo.
However, he was not ably assisted by the rest of his officiating team. On the whole, Ridley had a strong, confident performance and trusted his team to assist him in the event that he missed something or made an error. It may have been marginal, but clearly the incorrect decision was reached and can have a massive influence on who will lift the Rugby Championship trophy.
As Contepomi mentioned above, the Pumas have to shoulder a lot of the blame too because, for the second week in a row, they allowed the Wallabies a route back into the game and threw commanding leads away.
This year’s tournament has a similar feel to it as 2022, which was decided by a single log point, and while the All Blacks have dominated the history of the Championship, there have been other editions that have been nip-and-tuck. 2014 was decided by three points, 2015 and 2019 by four.
2025 is shaping up to be just as closely fought, and like it or not, the forward pass try has already shaped the title race and could ultimately be a deciding factor.
Still, that does not give carte blanche to Contepomi to fire shots at the match officials at press conferences in the manner he has done so.
He is not the only guilty party in this regard, as coaches repeatedly hit out at referees and their performances, with World Rugby issuing no sanctions or bans when they do even when with repeat offenders like Contepomi, Gregor Townsend, Warren Gatland and Michael Cheika, to name a select few.
In fact, the last notable sanction was to Rassie Erasmus back in 2021, when he aired his misgivings on social media and has since avoided any public criticism of officials.
