Scots bemoan contentious call

The Wallabies won a thrilling World Cup quarterfinal 35-34 against the Scots at Twickenham on Sunday.

Flyhalf Foley, who missed his first three goal-kicks, held his nerve amidst raucous boos from Scotland fans – unhappy with an offside call by South African referee Craig Joubert.

The penalty came from a botched Scottish line-out, with a knocked forward ball ending up in the hands of Scotland forward Jon Welsh, who was then ruled to have been offside.

However, replays suggested a touch in between by Australia's Nick Phipps, which could have led to a scrum rather than a penalty.

"They got the TMO [television match official] for everything else, it's such a big decision – why would you not get the TMO for that?," frustrated Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw said.

However, a World Rugby spokesman later told AFP that Joubert was unable to call upon the TMO as the incident had not taken place in the lead-up to a try and did not involve foul play.

It had seemed Mark Bennett's intercept try seven minutes from time, when he grabbed a loose pass from James Slipper, had set up a huge World Cup upset by Scotland, who lost all five of their matches in this year's Six Nations.

But Australia, the 1991 and 1999 world champions, will now face Argentina – who beat Ireland 43-20 earlier in Cardiff – next Sunday again at Twickenham.

"I don't know if I've got ice-cool nerves. I'd rather not be kicking them right at the death," Foley said.

"There is a lot of character in this side. Even when we were behind with five minutes to go, we knew we had a chance. But credit goes to Scotland."

Scotland's defeat meant that for the first time the last four in a World Cup would be an entirely Southern Hemisphere affair.

Agence France-Presse