France captain Antoine Dupont said the standard of refereeing was not at the required level in their Rugby World Cup quarter-final defeat to South Africa.
Dupont returned to action after recovering from a fractured cheekbone, but fell short in leading his side to a famous win in the French capital.
Speaking in the post-match press conference, he said: “It’s hard to talk about these things because there’s lots of disappointment and frustration. We could have had some penalties at crucial moments.
“I don’t want to be a bad loser and moan about the refereeing but I don’t think the refereeing was up to the level of what was at stake.
“It’s not just one person, there are TMOs, assistant referees, and they have time to review images as the game is going on.
“This doesn’t take anything away from South Africa’s performance, they played a great game.”
The officiating team, led by Ben O’Keeffe, faced several contentious calls, including Eben Etzebeth’s one-handed interception attempt, which was ruled to have been knocked backwards.
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