Referee's decision raises Samoan ire

Former Wanganui City College rugby star Paul Perez became an unwitting focus of a rugby scrap in his Samoan homeland last week.

Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi waded into IRB-appointed match officials in a weekly radio programme a few days after Scotland had beaten Samoa - courtesy of a runaway try by Perez being disallowed because the ball had allegedly gone into touch before Perez touched it.

Australian touch-judge Ian Smith, who has refereed several Super 15 matches this season - and not always escaped controversy - ruled that Scottish winger Tim Visser was outside the touchline when the ball was knocked out of his hands and seized by Perez, who ran away to score.

Video evidence shows Smith was incorrect and that the ball was always in the field of play. As the crowd howled, Scotland won the test by one point.

The Prime Minister, also chairman of the Samoan Rugby Union, has ordered the Samoan Rugby Union to file an official complaint to the IRB "so they won't send any more idiots to officiate in future Manu Samoa matches," he told his weekly radio show.

Tuilaepa said one "idiot" had tried to convince everyone in broad daylight that the ball had crossed the line when it clearly had not.

"There is still an attitude of racial discrimination which exists in these officials against the rise of Manu Samoa that they don't want us to defeat any of the big teams like Scotland," he told Radio 2AP during his weekly programme.

The Samoan protest has been received by the IRB and forwarded to head of referees Paddy O'Brien, according to head of communications Dominic Rumbles, who said all officials were evaluated after matches and their performances taken into account when looking at future appointments.

Footnote: Perez played three matches in 2005 for Wanganui, while still a student at Wanganui City College. He then went on to play numerous games for Taranaki, the Samoan Sevens and the full Manu Samoa side.