AM's Nicky Styris has slammed World Rugby for the interference by the television match official (TMO) in the All Blacks Rugby World Cup final defeat on Sunday (NZ time).
The All Blacks fell in heartbreaking fashion 12-11 to the Springboks to give the South Africans an unprecedented fourth World Cup title.
But the match was marred by controversy and frustration for supporters with the consistent interruption by the TMO.
Taking charge of his first ever final, Wayne Barnes and TMO official Tom Foley were involved in some questionable decisions including the red card to All Blacks captain Sam Cane and a yellow to Springboks counterpart Siya Kolisi for a similar indiscretion.
Barnes - who is rugby's most experienced referee - also gave yellow cards to All Blacks flanker Shannon Frizell and Springboks wing Cheslin Kolbe.
The officiating performance didn't impress Styris, who said she walked away from the final "let down" and felt it was "diabolical".
"Where it really let me down and I walked away disappointed was that was rugby's global showpiece on display for the world to see and it was diabolical," she said.
"The overuse of the TMO, the inconsistencies in the calls. If you were watching that game for the first time, you wouldn't even understand. I didn't understand some of the calls, there were rules I'd never even heard of. It was slow, it was cumbersome. It needs to be looked at."
AM co-host Melissa Chan-Green said the final wouldn't have attracted new viewers to continue watching rugby union in the future.
"The NRL would've been sitting there saying, thanks World Rugby for a fantastic advertisement to our game because yours is just a mess," Styris replied.
Chan-Green added, "If the TMO is meant to cut out controversy in the game, well it was certainly doing the opposite yesterday. I don't think necessarily the calls were wrong, but it was the interference all the time, so we were just watching a battle of technology here".
Fellow AM co-host Ryan Bridge questioned if the rules are wrong in rugby, but Styris believed the issue is the easy ability for the TMO to interfere with the game compared to other sports.
"Here's the thing, in other sports, say like the NRL and cricket, the teams decide when the TMO gets involved," Styris said.
"You have two reviews as a cricket team. So you say 'we want to review that', then the VAR comes in. In the NRL you have a captain's challenge... [in rugby union] they're reactive, they will see something under the microscope and bring it back and it happened two minutes earlier."
AM viewers were quick to email in, with Richard saying the officiating is "killing rugby union".
"I love rugby, it's the only sport I watch but based on the weekend, if things don't improve, I'll stop watching. The inconsistency and continual interruption into the game by the TMO," Richard emailed in saying.
Bridge was quick to chip in saying that was an "empty threat", but Styris hit back saying she was in the same boat as Richard.
"I think over the years I've gone from rugby union to rugby league. I now watch more league than I do union for that very reason," Styris said.
Watch the full discussion in the video above.
