Former broadcaster Rawdon Christie has leapt to the defence of under fire referee Wayne Barnes for his performance in the Rugby World Cup final.
Barnes and television match official (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.
This has seen Barnes allegedly targeted with death threats, with his wife Polly firing back on social media at supporters who she said abused her husband, while she attended with her children at Stade de France.
"What a vile atmosphere at the Stade de France," she wrote. "It's just a game k***heads."
"See ya later Rugby World Cup. Won't miss you or the death threats."
Christie appeared on AM's daily panel on Monday morning and told the show the issue is with the rules of the game rather than referee Barnes.
He told AM the referee should be the person making the decisions not the TMO.
"My opinion is the TMO does have a role to play. All these rules seem to have come into place in order to protect people's safety," he said.
"So if there's an issue with that, step in, otherwise the referee on the pitch should be the person making the decisions and if they miss stuff, they miss stuff, that's just the nature of the game to me... I don't blame the ref at all."
Christie took exception with two major calls that were made in the final.
"I'll whinge for all New Zealanders, but with that Aaron Smith try being disallowed to me was just a headshake," he said.
"The other problem I have is that you've got to apply the same rule to both. I don't blame the ref at all."
Christie is referring to Smith's try that was ruled out after intervention from the TMO when he spotted a knock-on at an earlier lineout. He was also talking about the decision to show All Blacks captain Sam Cane a red card for a high tackle on Jesse Kriel. South African skipper Siya Kolisi didn't receive the same punishment for a similar incident against Ardie Savea later in the match.
Christie isn't the only person leaping to the defence of Barnes, All Blacks coach Ian Foster said the English referee should not be the focal point of what happened at the Stade de France.
"At the end of the day... we've got to have a perspective about this," said Foster. "It's a tough game to referee. There's a lot of pressure on.
"Wayne's a quality person, and has been a quality referee for a long, long time.
"I didn't agree with a number of his decisions last night, but that doesn't change the fact he's a quality person and a quality referee.
"The issues in the game, many of them were outside his control."
