Get over the 2007 Rugby World Cup loss, Matfield tells Poms

Springbok World Cup winner Victor Matfield yesterday advised England to “get over it” after former winger Mark Cueto claimed this week that the Roses would have beaten South Africa in the 2007 final had his highly debated try not been disallowed.

With the Boks leading 9-3 at the Stade de France, Cueto went over for what he thought was a sure try early in the second half.

He was, however, denied by television match official (TMO) Stuart Dickinson, who judged that the Englishman’s left foot had dragged into touch during Danie Rossouw’s desperate tackle.

Video footage suggests Mark Cueto’s foot went into touch before dotting down. Picture: Reuters

John Smit’s side went on the win 15-6.

Matfield, who was named the man of the match that day, told The Citizen yesterday: “I don’t know why they still make a fuss of that disallowed try after all these years. Even if that try was allowed we still would have won 15-13. And there was a TMO to make the call, which I firmly believe was the right decision.

“Replays clearly showed that Cueto’s feet touched the sideline before he scored.”

Cueto himself strongly disagrees, saying the angles at Dickinson’s disposal didn’t provide sufficient evidence to completely rule out the try.

The Australian TMO took 2 minutes, 35 seconds to reach a decision after it was referred by Irish referee Alain Rolland, who was unsighted when Cueto went over.

“Everyone takes the mick out of me when I say I still think it was a try, but I genuinely do. There’s a million angles to suggest it was a try and there was one angle where it was 50-50,” Cueto told The Guardian newspaper, adding his effort would have been awarded today, with all the advances in technology.

“Let’s hope there isn’t a controversial issue like that on Saturday [when the Springboks meet England in the World Cup final in Yokohama] but, if there was, I think you’d definitely be able to make a 100% decision on whether it was or wasn’t.

“Now they’ve got cameras in the flags so every angle is taken care of and you can get within a metre of every play in the game. Everything is so advanced now, you rarely get the decision wrong,” he said.

Even after retiring from the game five years ago, the Englishman confesses the disallowed try is still very much part of his life.

“I thought it would last, maybe, six weeks… But 12 years on, believe it or not, it still seems to come up every other day.”

“Certainly this week I knew it was going to be mentioned more than ever,” said Cueto, who scored 20 tries that did stand in 55 Tests.

“I don’t know when it will go away. I think maybe if we go on to beat South Africa this weekend and win the World Cup, then there’s almost no reason to refer back to ’07 anymore.

“From a selfish point of view, that would be sad because then I’d be really forgotten, wouldn’t I?” he quipped.

– news@citizen.co.za

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.