Craig Joubert facing full review into performance after decision cost Scotland RWC 2015 semi-final place

World Rugby will carry out a full review of referee Craig Joubert’s performance after the South African came under huge criticism for his controversial decision to award a penalty late in Scotland’s Rugby World Cup defeat by Australia.

Joubert gave Wallaby fly-half Brendan Foley the chance to win the match for Australia – which he duly took – after it was decided that replacement prop Jon Welsh was standing in an offside position following a collision between Scottish second-row Josh Strauss and Wallaby scrum-half Nick Phipps.

However, video footage and the self-admission that Phipps was going for the ball has since ruled this an incorrect decision, and Joubert made the matter worse when he sprinted from the field of play to the sanctuary of the changing rooms immediately after he blew the full-time whistle.

World Rugby chief executive Brett Gosper has spoken today to clarify the process of reviewing Joubert’s performance, and admitted that more information will be available later on Monday once the relevant reports have been filed. It is worth stressing though that every match goes through the subsequent review, not just ones that produce controversial decisions.

"There seems to be some controversy around it and we are doing a full review of that," Australian Gosper told the BBC. "The match officials are assessed by a match assessor, by each team and Joel Jutge, the head of our match officials.

"We have not had that report back so I can't comment on the specifics of that situation at the moment. Hopefully sometime today we will have a little more fact and will communicate that."

Gosper joked that perhaps Joubert was desperate to go to the toilet given his hasty departure, although reports from the match claim that a plastic bottle was thrown in Joubert’s direction as he left the field.

“Mistakes do happen but it’s a tough job,” Gosper added. “There’s a review taking place of all aspects, including his exit from the pitch. Maybe he was keen to get to the bathroom, who knows? What I would say is that the standard and level of refereeing has been phenomenally high at this Rugby World Cup and they have worked very hard at this tournament.

“The referee has not explained to me why he did that [ran off the pitch]. Craig is one of our top referees, a good man and he will have had his reasons. We don’t know what was in his head. We are in the process of working that through.”

The Daily Mail’s rugby writer Chris Foy reported that a bottle was thrown from the stands towards Joubert, although it did not hit the South African as he made his hasty exit.

World Rugby are expected to confirm the details within the reports later today.