- October 20, 2019 11:42pm
- Source: FOX SPORTS
French rugby union fans have been left fuming after South African referee Jaco Peyper was seen with Welsh supporters mimicking the elbow which saw Sebastien Vahaamahina sent from the field.
Vahaamahina was given his marching orders after a sickening elbow on Wales No. 6 Aaron Wainwright just after halftime. Wales pipped France 20-19 to advance to the semis to face South Africa after their victory over Japan.
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Frenchman's brain explosion
0:50Referee Jaco Peyper shows a red card to France's Sebastien VahaamahinaSource: APPeyper consulted with the TMO before sending Vahaamahina off, with the Frenchman becoming just the third player to be shown a red card in the finals stages in the history of the Rugby World Cup.
The second-row apologised to his teammates in a tearful changing-room address.
But the controversy hasn’t stopped there.
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Just hours after Peyper had dismissed the French lock, he was pictured with a group of Wales fans re-enacting the elbow.
While clearly in jest, the snap hasn’t gone down well with the French.
France's lock Sebastien Vahaamahina (black cap) elbows Wales' flanker Aaron WainwrightSource: AFPTight call goes Wales' way
0:49“Vahaamahina might have nothing in his brain, Jaco Peyper doesn’t have much more. What an idiot,” wrote one angry supporter.
One fan tweeted that the photo was: “Shameful. Like his performance.”
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Another said: “If this photo is not a fake, it is particularly disturbing”.
While one French fan said that should be the end of Peyper’s role in the World Cup.
“As much as Vahaamahina deserves his red card, Jaco Peyper deserves to finish officiating in the World Cup after that. He can celebrate his match but this joke is unworthy of a referee,” he wrote.
