Phil Waugh, a mighty contributor to the Wallaby cause on the openside flank, pilfered a ball from the "wrong" side of what appeared a properly-formed ruck. The New Zealand official verbally abused Dave Reddin, the England fitness co-ordinator, in the immediate aftermath of the Six Nations champions' victory over Samoa, and was suspended from the competition for three days. As these decisions go, it was a travesty.There are those, not least in the England camp, who believe Walsh should have been drummed out of the World Cup following his pitch-side antics in Melbourne a fortnight ago. Gregor Townsend's diagonal kick offered Kenny Logan every chance of touching down in the left corner, but the referee halted the action merely to warn Sailor as to his future conduct.

But they would have gone mighty close in yesterday's quarter-final had they been dealt a decent hand by the officials.

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The Wallabies got away with murder in midfield, where their well-documented tactic of organised obstruction repeatedly made life impossible for the tackler. They were also given a leg-up of major proportions midway through a tight first half when Walsh failed to play an advantage following Wendell Sailor's punch on the outstanding Nathan Hines. It beggars belief that the Wallabies can retain their world title playing in this fashion, but with referees of Steve Walsh's quality floating around the tournament, who can be sure what the future holds? Underpowered and outpaced in the back division, Scotland were hardly in the ideal position to end Australia's interest in their own competition. I haven't experienced those feelings yet, but they'll come one day."Right now, I still love this job But the years do kick in every now and again. The last time England met Wales in a World Cup quarter-final was back in 1987, and I watched the game on the telly.

Earlier this week, I sat down and tried to remember who was in the England pack that day, and I realised I'd played with more or less all of them. That was pretty scary, I can tell you."Precious few other things have scared Leonard over the last decade and a half, and it is difficult to imagine Wales, for all their romantic notions of another World Cup turn-up, frightening him today.. "I am as surprised as anyone that I'm still around," he admitted last week. "I grew up in this game when people were happy with 15 caps, when a 30-cap career was exceptional, so I'm grateful to have lasted this long. It won't surprise you to learn that I take nothing for granted. When you lose your enthusiasm for training early in the morning, when you might be in bed; when you really can't face leaving your family for weeks on end.. that's when you know it's beginning to slip away.