Nick Knowles’ astonishing rant at standard of officiating in the Wales v Fiji game

TV presenter Nick Knowles didn’t hold back when he described the officiating of the Wales v Fiji game as ‘absolutely appalling’.

Believing that a number of Wales offences were ignored by officials he also said that Fiji should launch an official complaint.

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, he didn’t hold back, writing: “Absolutely appalling officiating in this game – Fiji should launch an official complaint. Try line no arms tackle first half wales ignored, multiple try line offences Wales ignored, one offence Fiji carded. Officiating ruining this World Cup.”

Absolutely appalling officiating in this game – Fiji should launch an official complaint. Try line no arms tackle first half wales ignored, multiple try line offences Wales ignored, one offence Fiji carded. Officiating ruining this World Cup #WALvFIJ

— Nick Knowles (@MrNickKnowles) September 10, 2023

The astonishing rant against officials in a game that saw both sides yellow carded unsurprisingly caused quite the reaction on the social media platform – especially from Wales fans who took issue with the presenter’s scathing view of the refereeing – many pointing out he was only sore because Fiji beat England, and he couldn’t stand the idea of Wales winning.

Others pointed out that there were just as many offences from Fiji that were let go, in a ferocious game that was lauded as the best so far at the World Cup.

We’re not sure if Knowles is still fuming today, but all we can say it must have been nice for him to see a team scoring tries after watching England play Argentina.

Meanwhile, Louis Rees-Zammit today admits undisciplined Wales survived a major scare and have significant room for improvement after edging an “absolutely brutal” Rugby World Cup classic against Fiji.

The 22-year-old tournament debutant claimed the third of his country’s four tries to help build an 18-point advantage with just 10 minutes to go on a breathless evening in Bordeaux.

But ferocious Fiji roared back and threatened to pull off a stunning Pool C comeback before falling agonisingly short as Semi Radradra’s costly late knock-on saw Wales scrape a thrilling 32-26 success.

Wing Rees-Zammit, who was limping following the full-time whistle, was the exposed man tasked with stopping the rampaging Radradra before gleefully booting the fumbled ball into touch.

“I was stressed,” he told the PA news agency. “They had a massive overlap and I was trying to call players round, but we were getting sucked in.

“When I saw the ball go over, I was like: ‘I’m going to have to try and go low on him here and hopefully get him out’.

“Unfortunately for him he knocked it on and we won the game.

“It was absolutely brutal. It lasted 82 minutes and we had to dig deep and in the majority of our game our discipline let us down, but I think ultimately to get a win is the most important thing.

“You could see it was a brutal game and I’m a bit sore, but a decent recovery now and hopefully I will be ready for next week.”

Read more about the epic battle that was Wales v Fiji HERE