French captain Antoine Dupont has taken a shot at the standard of refereeing by New Zealand’s Ben O’Keeffe in their one-point Rugby World Cup quarter-final loss to South Africa this morning.

The loss was a tough blow for the favourites – and hosts – of the World Cup, losing 29-28 to the defending champions in a cliffhanger of a match.

It was the first match back for Dupont, who came back from a tournament-threatening injury, but speaking after the match, he thought O’Keeffe made far too many mistakes.

“There’s a lot of frustration and disappointment. If we look again at some of the decisions maybe there will be even more. I don’t want to sound like a bitter person who complains about the refereeing, but I’m not sure the refereeing was at the highest level tonight.”

O’Keeffe found himself at the centre of a controversial World Cup moment, with an early call favouring the Springboks kept them on track to beat the French. With the reigning champions hard on defence on their own tryline and already trailing 7-0 after just six minutes, lock Eben Etzebeth swatted at a ball that was passed by French winger Damien Penaud. The big lock was the last man in the Bok defensive line, with two French runners steaming on to the ball just metres from the tryline.

France's Antoine Dupont after the loss to South Africa in the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup. Photo / Photosport

O’Keeffe ruled that the ball had been deflected backwards. A penalty decision would have possibly led to a penalty try, with the two French runners unopposed, and a likely yellow card to match the one shown to All Blacks halfback Aaron Smith in yesterday’s stunning quarter-final. The Springboks immediately went down the other end, where Etzebeth was involved again, competing for a high ball and disrupting the French defenders to allow the ball to bounce free for winger Kurt-Lee Arendse to score.

The reversal meant the World Cup hosts had gone from a 14-0 prospect to a 7-7 slugfest in less than two minutes.

Etzebeth was immense throughout the dramatic match, scoring a crucial try before being subbed in the 71st minute. He made 10 tackles on a night when brutal hits flowed – the Springboks made 163 tackles to France’s 92.

O’Keeffe penalised both teams six times in an enthralling encounter, the fewest penalties of the four quarter-finals. The earlier quarter-final today between England and Fiji, with Frenchman Mathieu Raynal in charge, featured 22 penalties.

French head coach Fabien Galthié understood his players’ frustration while asking friends and families to “be brave” following the loss.

“Firstly I am thinking of first of our fans, our families, all the people who believe in us and who support us daily. All the people who were around us, our staff, who put in all the work – and the players. My first thought is, for all our families and supporters, our France ‘group’ – has to be brave tonight.”

France’s team manager Raphael Ibanez said being unable to convert several try-scoring opportunities proved costly as their hopes of winning the trophy for the first time were dashed.

“We are very sad tonight,” said Ibanez. “I think we gave everything to win that game.

 “We knew it would be a very tight game and we had to score every opportunity. We had some good opportunities but unfortunately we couldn’t convert them into points.”

“We had our chances, they were pragmatic and sometimes we try and try our best with the support of the French fans. This is why we are sad tonight, we are sad for them. We have to get up and stand up and go for the next fight. We have other games coming, not in this World Cup, but we have to still believe in the team.”

- With AP

Luke Kirkness is an Online Sports Editor for the NZ Herald. He previously covered consumer affairs for the Herald and was an assistant news director in the Bay of Plenty. He won Student Journalist of the Year in 2019.