{"id":101437,"date":"2021-07-17T14:57:19","date_gmt":"2021-07-17T14:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=101437"},"modified":"2021-07-17T16:57:49","modified_gmt":"2021-07-17T16:57:49","slug":"france-captain-called-out-for-ultimate-rugby-sin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=101437","title":{"rendered":"France captain called out for ultimate rugby sin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wallabies star James O'Connor and coach Dave Rennie have accused France captain Anthony Jelonch of the ultimate rugby sin – football-style gamesmanship in what they viewed as a successful act to get Marika Koroibete sent off in a gripping third Test.<\/p>\n

Rugby is no stranger to baffling refereeing decisions but Ben O'Keeffe reaching for a red card after five minutes was genuinely jaw-dropping.<\/p>\n

You feared Australia would melt, Cadbury-style, without one of their top three players but instead they somehow played better with just 14 men.<\/p>\n

The new home of rugby, Stan Sport, is the only place to watch the Bledisloe Cup and Rugby Championship with ad-free, live & on demand coverage<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Injured playmaker O'Connor called Jelonch out for covering his face and crumbling to the Suncorp Stadium turf after Koroibete rocked him with his shoulder.<\/p>\n

"It's pretty frustrating," O'Connor told Nine and Stan Sport at halftime, with scores locked at 20-20 in another remarkable Test match.<\/p>\n

"If you're playing in the spirit of rugby that's not something I guess you do.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Brave Wallabies win epic series against France<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Wallabies star sent off in 'absolute travesty'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> The heroes that put Wallabies back on the map<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"To me it looked like, blatantly, Jelonch's been hit, he's dropped the ball and then he's reacted because of that.<\/p>\n

"So pretty frustrating but it's almost brought us together a little bit and we're playing some faster rugby which is good."<\/p>\n

Young loose forward Jelonch was captaining a second-string France for the first time Down Under.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In commentary for Nine and Stan Sport, All Blacks legend Andrew Mehrtens pulled no punches and labelled the red card an "absolute travesty."<\/p>\n

Speaking after his first series win as Wallabies coach, Rennie described fellow Kiwi O'Keeffe as "an excellent referee" but shared O'Connor's disdain for Jelonch's actions.<\/p>\n

"There was a couple of situations where our guys got clocked in the head but they didn't stay down," Rennie said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"They just get up and get on with it.<\/p>\n

"So maybe that's the difference."<\/p>\n

Rennie praised the Wallabies for a "smarter" kicking game and a "massive" defensive effort.<\/p>\n

"We showed a lot of steel tonight."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It meant Australia retained the Trophee des Bicentenaires and will enjoy some time to celebrate a gruelling, unique 11 day series before reloading for the Bledisloe Cup opener at Eden Park on August 7.<\/p>\n

"Really pleasing," Rennie said.<\/p>\n

"Amazing character and we'll grow from a pretty special night."<\/p>\n

While Jelonch's alleged dive won't win him many fans in Australia, Les Bleus' overall contribution to a memorable series can't be overstated.<\/p>\n

\"'Try<\/p>\n

France endured hotel quarantine while fulfilling their Test commitments and played some spectacular rugby with a severely depleted squad.<\/p>\n

It underscored their claims to a potential first Rugby World Cup on home soil in 2023.<\/p>\n

"Each game down to the wire so thanks to France travelling around the world in this day and age, it made for a great competition," Wallabies captain Michael Hooper said.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/OwenFinegan\/status\/1416343555463782402?s=20<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/TimHoran12\/status\/1416383495069257728?s=20<\/a><\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wallabies star James O'Connor and coach Dave Rennie have accused France captain Anthony Jelonch of the ultimate rugby sin – football-style gamesmanship in what they […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101437"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=101437"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101439,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101437\/revisions\/101439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=101437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=101437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=101437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}