Referee declines Cheika invite after Australia’s series loss to Ireland

Australia coach Michael Cheika revealed referee Pascal Gauzere declined an invitation to his media conference after the Wallabies suffered a series defeat to Ireland.

Ireland claimed a 20-16 win in Sydney to claim a first series win in Australia since 1979.

Yet the victory was not without controversy, with Cheika bemused as to why Israel Folau was sin-binned late in the first half for an aerial challenge on Peter O’Mahony.

Cheika also took issue with a decision that went against Tolu Latu, which enabled Johnny Sexton to give Ireland an ultimately decisive four-point cushion with a 79th-minute penalty.

“I invited him [Gauzere] to come to the presser [news conference] but he didn’t want to,” Cheika said.

“You guys have seen what happened out there, you saw the decisions, the only people who can answer the questions are the referees, not me. I’ll say something and you’ll say it’s a biased view.

“I don’t want to be the guy who looks like: ‘oh, he’s a moaner’. That’s how it always ends up. They can answer it themselves to be honest.

“Across the series we’ve been talking about really trying to build a good rapport and have clarity around decisions and have a no excuses mentality, which I really want to maintain.”

On the Latu penalty, he added: “I think you guys saw what happened. Tolu is first there with no ruck formed and he gets a penalty awarded against him. Like I said, that’s the fact.

“The only people who can answer the questions are the referees or the referees’ boss, if we’re fair dinkum. I’ll keep it to myself.”

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