Referee Rejects Michael Cheika’s Invite After He Calls Him Out Following Ireland Game

No thanks.

Wallabies head coach has revealed referee Pascal Gauzere rejected his invitation to attend his press conference following Australia’s 20-16 defeat to Ireland yesterday morning.

Cheika was unhappy with the decision to give Israel Folau a yellow card for an aerial challenge on Peter O’Mahony, as well as the decision to ping Tolu Late late in the game – a penalty that ultimately allowed Johnny Sexton to seal the win with the final three points of the game.

The former Leinster boss says he invited Gauzere to his post-match media conference to explain himself.

“I invited him [Gauzere] to come to the presser [news conference] but he didn’t want to,” Cheika said.

“You guys have seen what happened out there, you saw the decisions, the only people who can answer the questions are the referees, not me. I’ll say something and you’ll say it’s a biased view.

“I don’t want to be the guy who looks like: ‘oh, he’s a moaner’. That’s how it always ends up. They can answer it themselves to be honest.

“Across the series we’ve been talking about really trying to build a good rapport and have clarity around decisions and have a no excuses mentality, which I really want to maintain.”

On the Latu penalty, he added:

“I think you guys saw what happened. Tolu is first there with no ruck formed and he gets a penalty awarded against him. Like I said, that’s the fact.

“The only people who can answer the questions are the referees or the referees’ boss, if we’re fair dinkum. I’ll keep it to myself.”

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