Florian Grill continues to defend the referees and point the finger at the Blues

President of the French Rugby Federation, Florian Grill, returned to the controversy surrounding the refereeing of the match between France and South Africa in the World Cup quarter-finals. He called on French fans to turn the page.

Enough is enough. Invitation of 4V in France on December 2, the President of the French Federation of Rugby Florian Grill is located on the police station in New Zealand Ben O’Keeffe in the final quarter of the Coupe in the French-Afrique rugby world. From the south. For him, criticizing the referee, who is considered responsible for the Blues’ defeat by more than one in two Frenchmen, is excessive.

“We have to face things. There are decisions that can raise questions, but at the same time we make four attempts. These four attempts are not the referee’s job.”“, Florian Grell ruled.

This appeal to reason is followed by a column entitled “Defending and respecting referees means defending rugbyThe leader published it today, Tuesday, on his Facebook page, calling on the French rugby president to “Put an end to negative comments about referees.”

““The referee, like the player, is subject to mistakes.”he says there.

“To accept that people say bad things about referees, to open this Pandora’s box, is to risk losing them anymore, because they will not return to the field. Talking only about the referee prevents us from analyzing the reality of the match clearly.”we can read there.

Ben O’Keefe’s decisions have been widely commented on since the French XV’s heartbreaking defeat to the Springboks. Consequently, many of them were considered in favor of the world champions, in particular the fact that the video referee was not used in the conversion of Tomas Ramos, which was blocked by Cheslin Kolbe. Several video clips appeared after the match, taken from different angles of the stadium, which helped fuel the remorse of the French public.

At the forefront of Ben O’Keeffe’s criticism is Captain Antoine DuPont, who, despite his direct admission that he does not want to… “He acted angry and complained to the referee because he lost“, a judgment that he probably didn’t have “He was up to the challenge.” During the post-match press conference.

In the days following the Blues’ defeat, the New Zealand referee was the target of online harassment from frustrated French fans. A phenomenon that was not subsided by information from Medi Olympique, which revealed that World Rugby supervisors reviewed the quarter-final match between France and South Africa and admitted five major refereeing errors, including three that were unfavorable to the Blues.

🏉🔴🗣️ “We have to face things. We made four attempts and it’s not Ben O’Keefe’s fault.”

Florian Grill, President @France RugbyHe reviewed the quarter-final loss to South Africa. #Not4V @floriangrell pic.twitter.com/46LxYMkwC9

-Telematene (@Telematene) October 26, 2023

via RMC Sport