Rugby World Cup 2011
French in rage over Joubert
2011-10-24 08:44
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Craig Joubert blows the final whistle on RWC 2011 (Getty Images)
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Cape Town – In the wake of the 8-7 Rugby World Cup final defeat to the All Blacks, the French public have laid the blame at referee, Craig Joubert’s doorstep.
Shortly after Joubert had brought the curtain down on the tournament, a few French supporters decided to ‘alter’ his French Wikipedia page.
According to
Die Volksblad, French tabloid,
lescandaleumag, who tweeted the occurrence, some two hours after the match had ended in which the altered Wikipedia insert repeatedly makes reference to Joubert as a ‘cheat’.
“(Sic) He did not see the mistakes (from the All Blacks). He was undoubtedly single-eyed,” read one of the sections on the page and ended with “VOLEUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUR” (which means ‘thief’ in French).
The French voiced their disgust much in the same manner many South Africans have towards Bryce Lawrence after he took charge of the Springboks’ quarter-final match against Australia which they lost and in so doing, ended their four year reign as the world champions.
The French would have none of it as they started accusing Joubert of failing to notice All Blacks captain, Richie McCaw’s ‘illegal’ actions at the breakdown and that he had gotten away with murder.
McCaw has also been on the end of a fair bit of criticism himself after the French noticed that he had not mentioned his opponents during his post-match interview.
One tweeter, Katie Stellard, tweeted: “(Sic) Victorious Richie McCaw: ‘I’m absolutely shagged.’ Poetry, sheer poetry.”
However, a few Springbok supporters believe Joubert was 'outstanding' with some South Africans even tweeting that he was their man-of-the-match.
Wallabies flyhalf, Quade Cooper, who is an avid tweeter, expressed his views of the final online and managed to be quoted on the tournaments official website.
“(Sic) France were great all game, but congrats to the Kiwis for winning the RWC. After 3 RWC's as favourites it's good to see them win.”