All Blacks v Wallabies editorial: Melbourne meltdown blows rugby raspberry

Referee Mathieu Raynal, right, shows Australia's Jake Gordon, second left, a yellow card during their rugby test match against New Zealand in Melbourne. Photo / AP

EDITORIAL

In rugby, a referee's call can be both completely correct and utterly ridiculous.

That's part of the reason our national sport is the poor cousin to footy codes in Melbourne, as it is throughout much of Australia. Thursday night's Bledisloe Cup match was played midweek to avoid clashes with league and Australian Rules – a hopeful attempt to showcase the often-arcane charms of this odd sport. A good showcase could even win a few new supporters for the Wallabies.

And until the final minute of the test match, it had been. The hosts were on the verge of a famous victory, having fought back from 31-13.

Then, the referee took centre stage. With one bizarre act, Mathieu Raynal killed both the Wallabies' chances of victory and rugby's chances of gaining traction in the battle for the stretched attention span of Australian sports fans.

The French ref pinged Wallaby No 10 Bernard Foley for time-wasting, handing the All Blacks the upper hand with a prime attacking scrum, from which they scored.

Aussie veteran Foley might well have been deliberately wasting time, many a smart player would try to run down the clock. The Wallabies' magnificent comeback had won them that right.

The referee could have stopped the clock; he could quite reasonably have let Foley eat up a few more seconds. In those final moments, the French referee needed to use more commonsense and less whistle.

Few would have left Marvel Stadium much the greater convert to this head-scratchingly odd sport.