LAST night, in case you missed it, England lifted the Wheelchair World Cup Final title following a nailbiting 28-24 win over rivals France.
For 80 minutes the two sides got stuck into each other with passion, skill and determination on show in droves from both sides.
Unfortunately, the passion wasn’t limited to just the players with defence referee Laurent Abrial taking umbrage with a number of decisions made by his fellow officials during the final.
In fact, at one point during the game, Abrial could be seen throwing his arms in the air before allegedly gesticulating towards the crowd.
The referee thought he was the main character 😳#BBCRL #RLWC2021 pic.twitter.com/bA4bEyja32
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) November 18, 2022
Abrial had been the official that had disallowed Jack Brown’s first-half effort and the man that could quite clearly be seen saying ‘no’ when lead referee Ollie Cruickshank awarded England’s last try through Tom Halliwell.
The ‘pantomime villain’ he was labelled by the BBC commentary team, Abrial collected his medal from rugby league stalwart Clare Balding to a chorus of boos from those inside the Manchester Centre.
