Wrong calls.

World Rugby has confirmed Angus Gardner and his team of officials made at least three mistakes in Ireland’s shock World Cup defeat to Japan last Saturday.

Ireland boss Joe Schmidt made it clear after the game that he was not happy with the Australian official, particularly in terms of a number of offsides that were given against Ireland that he felt were incorrect.

“It was pretty difficult. We probably fell on the wrong side of the penalty count.” Schmidt said after the game.

“Maybe three or four of them were for offsides that we felt were pretty tough.

“I do feel that they could have gone either way – particularly with some of theirs as well.

“It just gave them the front foot and they didn’t button off.”

Schmidt had also voiced his concerns about Gardner ahead of the game, referencing the last time he had taken charge of them in the Six Nations against Wales. And while the result against Japan is what it is, Schmidt can take some joy in the fact that World Rugby has admitted he was right.

“We were penalised for offside four times and we’ve now got the feedback that three of those were incorrect calls,” said Schmidt ahead of Ireland’s clash with Russia, via the Irish Times

“People were asking us about our discipline.”

“It’s pretty hard to keep getting off the line and onto the front foot when you are getting those calls. Two of them were from an AR [assistant referee Jerome Garces] who is going to be refereeing us on Thursday, so we know we’re going to have to be on our best behaviour.

“One thing I would say about this team is that they try to go out and deliver and, generally speaking, it’s unusual for us to have a higher penalty count than our opponents. So it’s frustrating that in the first two games, I thought Wayne [Barnes] did a super job.”