Wales hoping for controversy-free win

The last time Wales met France, a red card for Wales’s inspirational captain Sam Warburton defined the team’s brave but ultimately unfruitful World Cup run.

Tomorrow’s referee, Craig Joubert, also courted controversy when his officiating of the final attracted criticism from the defeated French side as well as many neutrals.

And there will be a degree of apprehension before tomorrow’s game because of the significant role played by the officials so far in this year’s event.

Wales’s opening weekend win in Dublin – pipping the Irish 23-21 thanks to a last-gasp Leigh Halfpenny penalty – was overshadowed by two so-called “tip-tackling” incidents.

Halfpenny’s winning kick came after referee Wayne Barnes judged, perhaps harshly, Ireland’s Stephen Ferris to have lifted Ian Evans dangerously.

But Ferris’s sin-binning meant he received the exact same punishment as Welshman Bradley Davies, who committed a far more dangerous offence earlier in the half.

Davies was spared a red card – though not the wrath of the subsequent citing committee – on the wrongful advice of Barnes’s touch judge and fellow Englishman Dave Pearson.

Compatriot and former World Cup whistleman Fred Howard told The Cardiffian after the match he thought Davies deserved red: “Pearson was very wrong in recommending a yellow card for the first [Davies’s] offence,” he said.

Wales’s home win over Scotland was less shrouded in controversy, although Frenchman Romain Poite looked to have made an error in disallowing a Scottish score for an apparent knock-on.

But when Wales secured the Triple Crown thanks to a 19-12 triumph over England at Twickenham, it sparked a huge debate over whether David Strettle had touched down for what could have been an equalising try with the last play of the game.

Strettle later insisted he had grounded the ball despite the attentions of Wales’s George North, Jonathan Davies and Halfpenny. But television match official Iain Ramage decided the play was inconclusive, allowing Wales escaped with the win – and the Triple Crown trophy.

Wales will point to Alain Rolland’s dismissal of Warburton as proof Wales have not always benefited from controversial decisions.

But both sides will be hoping Mr Joubert plays a low-key role in the sides’ Six Nations finale and the game is not won or lost thanks to the interpretation of the man in the middle.