World Rugby boss throws support behind officials after controversial ending to second Lions Test

World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin has thrown his support behind match officials and confirmed Wallabies will be privy to a review into the decision-making that cost them the Lions series.

Gilpin was speaking at the launch of the ticketing programme for the 2027 World Cup on Tuesday, where he opened his speech to the guests by addressing the decision to not penalise Jac Morgan in the second Test.

"While World Rugby has stated that we do not publicly comment on match officials' decisions or performance, given the nature of the commentary surrounding last weekend, I just wanted to express our support for the team of match officials involved," he said.

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"There is no other position on the field that is under the scrutiny that our match officials are under, yet they do an incredible job under incredible pressure in a very live environment.

"I think it's fair to say that when referee groups are reviewing decisions - and they do review decisions, they review with the coaches, they review them across the game - we are always proud to support our match officials in applying that review process, and that's what we are doing now and in the coming days with our colleagues in Rugby Australia and the Lions."

Gilpin then closed that statement by saying World Rugby would be taking no further questions on the matter.

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However, to a packed media scrum, Gilpin did address comments from Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt who had explicitly referenced law 9.20 which reads: "A player must not charge into a ruck or maul without binding onto another player."

Schmidt, who admitted mistakes can happen, also said: "We felt it was a decision that doesn't really live up to the big player safety push that they [World Rugby] are talking about."

Gilpin didn't think Schmidt had called into question the integrity of match officials.

"The Wallabies had a chance to win an amazing Test match," he said.

"We understand the emotion involved in that. I think Joe's comments have continued to respect the fact that the match officials have got a tough job to do."

The boss admitted the breakdown is "such a complex area to officiate" before confirming the review process would be shared with Schmidt and the coaching team.

"Joe's got a view about what was wrong with that decision and there'll be a debate so that Joe and his players can go into the next Test understanding how that game's going to be officiated," he said.

"... When the on-field decision is try, and it's referred to the TMO, then there needs to be something really clear and obvious to change that. And they didn't feel there was."