Monday 2 November 2015 00:15, UK
World Rugby chief executive Brett Gosper has defended the governing body's handling of Craig Joubert's contentious penalty call in Scotland's quarter-final defeat to Australia.
Referee Joubert awarded Australia, who were trailing by a point, a last-gasp match-winning penalty for offside which Bernard Foley scored to secure a 35-34 victory.
Joubert's involvement in the tournament ended along with Scotland's while Australia went on to reach the final where the lost 34-17 to New Zealand on Saturday.
"I don't think we regret what we said to the press, what was clear was that we had to investigate why TMO wasn't used," Gosper told Sky Sports News HQ.
"When you explain that, you also have to obviously own up to the fact that TMO did show there was an error.
"We certainly weren't doing that to be critical of Craig Joubert, who is a great referee, one of the world's finest and a good man. Players make mistake, referees also make mistakes.
"I think there was a bit of perception that we threw him under the bus, which was certainly not our intent.
"Our intent was simply to clarify and say that's what the TMO showed, that's what happened and these things do happen."
