England won't make official complaint about Pascal Gauzere

England have opted against lodging an official complaint to World Rugby over the performance of Pascal Gauzere in Saturday’s 40-24 defeat by Wales.

Gauzere awarded Wayne Pivac’s Grand Slam hopefuls two highly-dubious tries in the opening half an hour of the Guinness Six Nations clash at the Principality Stadium, the first of which was particularly controversial.

Former England captain Martin Johnson described the French official’s decision to allow Josh Adams’ 17th-minute touch down as “appalling refereeing”, while even ex-Wales skipper Sam Warburton admitted Eddie Jones’ team were right to be “livid”.

Eddie Jones faces the press after Wales loss:

Eddie Jones faces the press after Wales loss:

However, the PA news agency understands Jones will not be making a formal complaint to the sport’s global governing body amid widespread condemnation of Gauzere’s display.

Even the following morning, debate continues over whether Liam Williams’ 30th-minute try was legitimate because of a likely knock-on by Louis Rees-Zammit during the build-up.

But Adams’ score was more cut and dry with England captain Owen Farrell addressing his team over their indiscipline as instructed by Gauzere only for the referee to quickly restart play, allowing Dan Biggar to hoist the scoring crossfield kick.

REF WATCH

'…had England ignored his instructions and remained spread across the field, Gauzere would quite rightly have viewed a yellow card for the captain as an entirely reasonable course of action.'

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— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 28, 2021

The visitors, including their wings Jonny May and Anthony Watson, had moved infield to hear Farrell speak and there were a number of water carriers on the pitch when Gauzere blew his whistle. A frustrated Farrell protested to Gauzere but was dismissed.

“They’re huge decisions. We can’t debate it, we are not allowed to debate it. All I will end up with is a fine and that wont help anyone,” Jones said after the game.

'Some of the hotels, especially the one in Dublin, Jesus Christ, honestly like, it was something else. Like there was silverware at the tables'

Witty, charming, unabashed; @Saracens prop & Durham lad @alecclarey is a breath of fresh air, w/ @heagneyl 👨‍💻https://t.co/x5ePjGRcxz

— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 28, 2021

“They get points maybe they don’t deserve and we have to fight to get back into the game. It makes it difficult and you have to be good enough to overcome it.”

“Whenever you get beaten and bettered by a penalty, then discipline is an issue. But there were bigger issues in the game than that, and I will let you discuss them.”