Raiwalui concerned about referee’s decisions, demands consistency from match officials

Fiji Water Flying Fijians head coach Simon Raiwalui has expressed his honest opinion about the referee that officiated the game against Wales in their 2023 Rugby World Cup opener this morning, saying they felt that there were some occasions in the game where they did not get the rub of the green.

During the post match interview, Raiwalui says they had multiple penalties inside the Welsh territory but there was not any yellow card shown to the opposition but Fiji was flashed a yellow card straight off after one penalty against them inside their own territory.

Raiwalui adds he knows the referee has got a tough job and he respects what they do, but as a coach he just wants to see the consistency from the match officials.

He says they are going to go back and have a review of the game and see what had happened.

Meanwhile, fans have posted their frustration on social media about the standard of match officials in the Fiji match.

Earlier today, former Fiji Airways National Men’s 7s head coach Ben Ryan called out the match officials in a social media post saying grey officiating killed us and is so disappointing.

Ryan adds he is not denigrating the Wales performance but he was just stating his opinion as it was a cracking game.

Former Flying Fijians winger Nemani Nadolo also showed his frustration online stating that he is confused about the yellow card decision that was given to the Flying Fijians.

He also asked about the inconsistency in the whole high tackle ruling adding that maybe it is how the referee interprets the tackle at the time.

fijivillage News has sent questions to coach Simon Raiwalui if the team management is going to raise the issue about the standard of refereeing in this match. He is yet to respond.

The Flying Fijians will now take on the Wallabies in their next RWC match next Monday at 3.45am in Lyon.