On Sunday, France had a superb chance to take down Wales and make the Rugby World Cup semi-final, which would have been a great achievement given what has happened inside their camp over in Japan.

Instead, French lock Sebastien Vahaamahina suffered one of the all-time iconic World Cup brain farts, elbowing Wales’ Aaron Wainwright in the face in plain view of the hundreds of millions watching around the world.

In case you were one of those poor souls who was forced to miss the match (or perhaps you were struck by load shedding), here’s the incident:

It’s truly staggering in its stupidity, and it’s also quintessentially French in so many respects.

Leading 19-10 at the time, the opportunity was there to grind out the final half-hour and secure a result. Instead, they handed Wales a real gift, and now they’re on the next flight home.

South African Jaco Peyper took charge of the match, and whilst he may have handled things efficiently on the field (some disagree, but that will always be the case), it’s what happened afterwards that has attracted criticism.

Here’s the New Zealand Herald:

…just hours after the game, Peyper has landed in hot water after a picture emerged on social media of the referee appearing to mock Vahaamahina’s elbow shot by posing alongside jubilant Welsh fans.

The 39-year-old official is seen smiling for the camera with his elbow raised, mimicking the game-changing red card.

Here’s one of the more popular tweets doing the rounds:

OK, not a great look. If this photo is real, it wasn’t all that clever.

As is to be expected, many on social media were angry:

“As much as Vahaamahina deserves his red card, Jaco Peyper deserves to finish officiating in the World Cup after that. He can celebrate his match but this joke is unworthy of a referee,” one fan wrote on social media.

“Shameful. Like his performance,” another fan tweeted.

Another said: “If this photo is not a fake, it is particularly disturbing”.

Should Peyper be sent home, as many have called for? Well, there are only four matches left, and you could choose the tournament’s two finest refs to handle things from here.

Nigel Owens would more than likely be one of the two, but he wouldn’t be allowed to officiate a match involving Wales. The second spot would very much be up for grabs, with some saying Wayne Barnes might be leading the charge on that front.

He may want to brush up on what constitutes a flat versus a forward pass, and he may also want to reconsider his hasty approach to dishing out just a yellow to Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira for his dangerous tackle when he could have called for the replays and taken his time.

We dodged a bullet there, South Africa, and let’s not forget it when we’re whining about any calls that don’t go our way from here on out.

Either way, Jaco Peyper will probably be feeling a little daft this morning, and whilst it was clearly all harmless fun, he should have known better.

[source:nzherald]