Mathieu Raynal ought by now to have turned the Referee of the Year award into a foregone conclusion.
He has since spelt out why he refused to tolerate Australia's time-wasting, a decision which gave the All Blacks the platform to run away with the Bledisloe Cup like thieves in the night.
“I told a player (Bernard Foley) five times to kick the ball,'' Raynal said. “It's not me who decided to make the decision. It was the player who forced me to to make it. I try to do what is most fair.”
He has done the game a favour.
