Referee Andrea Piardi penalised Australia 15 times and New Zealand 10 in the Rugby Championship test in Auckland with many of the offences the Wallabies committed coming at the breakdown.
That crucially included a yellow card shown to winger Harry Potter in the final 10 minutes as the Wallabies, who had cut New Zealand’s lead to two points, chased a first win in 39 years at Eden Park.
“It’s really hard, because what we’ve perceived is inconsistencies,” Schmidt said.
“That makes it difficult, and then players are asking us questions and we get clarification afterwards.”
Piardi also had the whistle when Australia narrowly lost the second test to the British and Irish Lions in July, the result coming down to the Italian’s decision not to award a penalty in the lead up to the tourists’ winning score.
Schmidt said, however, that it was vital that his players learned to understand what the referee was looking for.
“I do think that we’ve just got to be better at adapting to how the referee is refereeing,” he added.
“If you don’t do that, then you pay the price, as we did today,” he added.
–Reuters–
