Refereeing blunders upset unlucky Fijians

With the group stage now over, and the knockout phase about to begin, few would argue about the All Blacks' installation as even firmer tournament favourites. After Saturday's shambles in Toulouse even fewer, especially anyone Fijian, would extend the same admiration or respect to the New Zealand referee Paddy O'Brien.

Shortly before half-time, with France clinging to a precarious 133 advantage, the Fijian flanker Ifereimi Tawake scored what appeared to be a perfectly legitimate try after Alfred Uluinayau's ferocious tackle had forced Ugo Mola to spill the ball with his line exposed.

O'Brien, inexplicably, indicated a knock-on and scrum to France. Seven points then, and the conversion would have been a formality, would not only have closed the gap significantly but given the Fijians a huge psychological advantage going into the second half.

As it was, in the 20 minutes after the break Fiji scored 16 points without reply, including a glorious solo try from Uluinayau, to lead 19-13. Would France have overturned a 26-13 deficit? Fijians thought not.

Greg Smith, the Fijian hooker and captain, was even more incensed about a penalty try O'Brien awarded against them to let France regain the lead with 10 minutes of normal time remaining. "We were robbed," he said. "Being in the front-row I know a hell of a lot more about what's going on than the referee. That was the turning point of the match."

Smith had a point. It was the French replacement hooker Marc Dal Maso's head which popped out of the scrum when O'Brien's patience finally ran out although, in the eight scrums which preceded the fatal ninth, Fiji had been penalised four times for collapsing without the ultimate sanction being applied.

Yet there was no question that that torrid six-minute spell spent on their own line sapped the Fijian forwards' strength and gave the initiative back to France. Christophe Lamaison's accurate kicking kept the Fijians pinned down and France at least finished with a more familiar flourish - a nine-man move, including five of their substitutes, which started with Xavier Garbajosa counter-attacking from near his own line and ending with Dal Maso swinging a scoring pass to Christophe Dominici.

Yet it was in every respect, including the refereeing, a poor, over-physical match riddled by indiscipline, tension, error and lack of ambition. France at least have a week to work on their game, especially their line-out, before facing either Ireland or Argentina in Dublin next Sunday.

As for Fiji, unless they can come up with something completely different against England at Twickenham on Wednesday they will be like lambs to the slaughter. While England will have had four days to recover from their 101-point jaunt, the Fijians will have only three.

Fiji's natural style is to play with the ball in hand. Against France, perhaps encouraged by Emori Katalau and Simon Raiwalui's line-out challenge, they relied far too heavily on the boot - the often inaccurate boot - of Nicky Little. Similar tactics will be suicidal against England.

The one time Fiji let rip on Saturday, Uluinayau exploded between Richard Dourthe and Emile Ntamack, shimmied past Mola and left the cover for dead as he streaked in at the posts.

Physically it is asking a great deal of the Fiji forwards to take England on in a similar war of attrition. Maybe the time has come to recall Waisale Serevi at out-half and cast inhibition to the wind. With the odds now heavily stacked against them, it is surely worth a try.