Report: England launch referee complaint

England are reported to be ready to lodge an official complaint to the International Rugby Board over the referee’s handling of their 19-13 defeat at Lansdowne Road.

Colin High, the Rugby Football Union’s referees’ manager, claimed South African Jonathan Kaplan made three major errors which changed the outcome of the match – England’s third successive defeat in the RBS 6 Nations Championship.

High, who also insisted the IRB would be “disappointed” with Kaplan’s performance, was speaking as England coach Andy Robinson took the unprecedented step of calling former international referees High and Steve Lander to Twickenham for a video analysis of the controversial decisions.

He went on to say there would be repercussions if a referee had produced such a display in England and that it would be unacceptable in a domestic game.

High told the Daily Mail: “The International Rugby Board will be disappointed.

“Jonathan Kaplan is in the top 20 in the world but that wasn’t an international performance.

“It would not have been acceptable in the Zurich Premiership.

“If one of my referees had done that, I would have had my backside kicked for making the appointment.

“If any English referee refereed like that in a European match, there would be an inquest. No question about that.

“If someone had performed like that, he would have been pulled from the next game.”

High vehemently disputed the decisions to award Martin Corry’s early try for England, disallowing another by Mark Cueto and giving Ireland their match-winning try by Brian O’Driscoll.

He told the Daily Mail: “Neither try was a try and the Cueto one which he didn’t give was a try. There is no doubt about that.

“He was miles onside, not offside.

“I have had that on excellent authority from a very eminent person who was there and he isn’t English.

“The O’Driscoll try should never have been allowed because Shane Horgan, the big Irish centre, was quite clearly offside when he made the tackle which set up the platform for the Irish attack.

“It’s all very well the referee saying he didn’t see it but he was there to see it.

“(Shane) Horgan is six feet four inches tall – the one green injury among all the white jerseys. He stood out like an elephant in a chorus line.”