SIX months on from the Rugby World Cup quarter-final between Scotland and Australia, referee Craig Joubert has offered an explanation for his bizarre behaviour at the end of the game.

The Wallabies won 35-34 thanks to a late penalty erroneously awarded by Joubert, who then ran off the pitch at the end of the game, baffling Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw and his team-mates. At the time, it looked like a panicky decision made by a man who knew he had made a serious mistake - and in the days following the game World Rugby confirmed that the penalty award had indeed been a mistake. Now, however, Joubert has sought to portray his action as a diplomatic piece of conflict avoidance.

“In my head was a desire to avoid any possible unseemly confrontation that would mar what had been a wonderful occasion,” the South African told the Daily Telegraph. “I had it in my mind somewhere that there had been an incident between the official and the England coaches in their match against Australia and I just didn’t want any of that to happen. That was my thinking - not for myself, but for the situation.

“In hindsight, would I have reconsidered that decision? Absolutely.”

The clear inference to be drawn from Joubert’s explanation is that he expected one or more members of the Scotland party to over-react. However, he added that he has since had cordial meetings with both Laidlaw and Scotland head coach Vern Cotter, having come into contact with both around the team’s Six Nations Championship match in Dublin last month, at which he was one of the touch judges.

“I had a coffee with Vern before the game and a beer with Greig afterwards,” he added. “They were very natural and typical interactions which I enjoyed.”