Joe Schmidt: Referees will be ‘very focused’ after dressing down

Joe Schmidt is expecting an upturn in refereeing standards and consistency following the officials’ very public dressing down by World Rugby this week.

The governing body responded to criticisms of referring inconsistency over the opening weekend of the 2019 Rugby World Cup and a failure to follow through on its promises of a clampdown on high tackles at the tournament by saying the performances of their elite officials “were not consistently of the standards set by World Rugby and themselves”.