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Kangaroos coach Ricky Stuart faces an official investigation for an alleged verbal attack on British match officials following the Kiwis' stunning World Cup final win on Saturday.
According to a report in the Guardian newspaper, Stuart harangued England-based Australian referee Ashley Klein and the Rugby Football League's referees controller Stuart Cummings - who had a say in World Cup appointments - during a chance meeting in the foyer of their Brisbane hotel.
A RFL spokesman refused to provide details of the alleged incident but confirmed it occurred in front of dozens of witnesses and that a complaint was being considered to the Rugby League International Federation.
Stuart refused to comment yesterday.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported widespread dissatisfaction among the Kangaroos about the performance of Klein and video ref Steve Ganson (England).
Stuart reportedly fronted Australian Rugby League chief executive Geoff Carr afterwards, alleging a conspiracy by tournament organisers.
"Witnesses say Stuart was out of line in his attack, blaming match officials and accusing them of stitching up his team to such an extent that defeat was virtually inevitable," the paper said.
Carr described Stuart as "very emotional".
Stuart allegedly said the result suited organisers and the future of the World Cup which was written off as a one-horse race.
The Kangaroos were fuming at the Kiwis' penalty try, after Lance Hohaia was taken out by Joel Monaghan, which had an element of doubt with Billy Slater in close proximity to contest the ball; and in Jerome Ropati's first half try after Benji Marshall was deemed to have been stripped of the ball, rather than to have knocked it on.
"It was terrible, to be honest. We knew we were going to have to play bad to get beaten, [and] we didn't play our best game but we weren't that bad," lock Paul Gallen told Channel Nine.
"It was a bit of a stitch-up, I thought, in some decisions."
The conduct of Stuart's team was under the microscope in the Australian media yesterday after most of the team refused to be interviewed after the Kiwis' shock 34-20 win.
An upset Slater, just days after accepting the plaudits for international player of the year, was asked to discuss the match, including his wild infield pass which handed Kiwis five-eighth Benji Marshall a late try.
"But instead of fronting up to the media and, in turn, league fans, [Slater] snuck out with nothing more than a sneer for those who had waited patiently for him to finish his post-game ritual," Dan Koch wrote in the Australian newspaper.
"It was an arrogant and indignant display from a bloke once regarded as one of the more affable characters around ..."
Slater's howler was rated just outside the Daily Telegraph newspaper's top-five sporting blunders, which included Wallaby David Campese's stray pass to hand the Lions a match-winning rugby try in 1989, and South African Herschelle Gibbs' dropped catch off Australia's Steve Waugh at the 1999 cricket World Cup. BBC television commentator Ray French, a former England league and rugby international, labelled the Kangaroos "sooks".
"I've never heard such a load of mumbo-jumbo. If you get beat, you face up to it, get dressed and go home. Life goes on," he told the Daily Telegraph.
The Telegraph also said Kangaroos captain Darren Lockyer's man of the match award made the sport "a laughing stock".
It reported the judges, former Kiwi Darrell Williams, Australia's Bob McCarthy, England's Brian Noble and Fiji's James Pickering were told their decision had to be lodged 10 minutes before fulltime, then were refused permission to change it to an unnamed Kiwi player just before the final whistle.
- NZPA
