Paddy O'Brien abysmal refereeing costs Fiji vs France in 1999 RWC

Referee Paddy O'Brien has one of the most famous abysmal refereeing performances and single handedly denies Fiji a win over France in the 1999 Rugby World Cup. O'Brien's errors cost Fiji 17 points to France in the match, gifting France 10 points and denying Fiji 7 as well as missing a possible red card. In the end France won 28-19, but it could have been so different. O'Brien admitted in regards to his performance after the match he "lost the plot".

0:00 - France prop Christian Califano headbutts the Fijian prop Joeli Veitayaki on the chin right in front of O'Brien. The incident was a possible red card offence for violent foul play but Califano and France get away with it.

0:20 - France take a penalty quickly, but fly half Christophe Lamaison throws a forward pass to wing Christophe Dominici to score in the corner. O'Brien awards the try, but then after the touchjudge tells him he got it wrong, he then disallows the try. O'Brien then goes back for a France penalty, even though they have already taken it and it should now be a Fiji scrum for the forward pass, and France get 3 points they shouldn't have.

0:57 - Fiji full back Alfred Uluinayau does a big hit on his opposite number Ugo Mola forcing Mola to lose the ball in contact, and then flanker Seta Tawake picks up and scores what is a fair try. But O'Brien disallows it and awards France a scrum and Fiji are denied the try.

1:30 - Fiji are winning 19-13 after 69 minutes, but after a series of scrums close to the Fiji line, France hooker Marc dal Maso pops up out of a scrum but O'Brien ignores this and awards France the penalty try and France the lead again even though it should have been a penalty to Fiji. And the score should have been 26-10 to Fiji at this point.

2:05 - After the match TV pundit Sean Fitzpatrick calls O'Brien's decision for the penalty try "astounding" and that "the Fijians will feel justifiably miffed".