Antoine Dupont believes that referee Ben O'Keefe failed to cope with this task.

Dupont spoke with O'Keefe throughout Sunday's defeat. Photo: AFP/FRANCK FIFE

Antoine Dupont said referee Ben O'Keefe «failed» to officiate France's Rugby World Cup quarter-final defeat.

Speaking after the hosts' one-point defeat to South Africa, France captain Dupont responded candidly to a question about O'Keefe's refereeing.

“There are many problems. disappointment, disappointment. We can't wait to see the replays again, even if they upset us even more. There are clear and obvious things that have not been whistled about. I don’t know if the match is lost at such moments,” Dupont said.

“In the decisive moments we should have gone for penalties. When you move 60 meters and the ruck slows down, it's easy to whistle something. I'm not sure that the refereeing coped with this task today. But I'm not going to be upset.»

The France scrum-half spoke to O'Keefe throughout the match about possible fouls by South Africa during the break.

O' Keefe received widespread praise for his refereeing work after overseeing Ireland's victory over South Africa at the Stade de France earlier in the tournament.

Dupont made it clear following his comments about O'Keefe that he did not wants to detract from South Africa's victory by congratulating Siya Kolisi and his team.

“This doesn't take anything away from the South Africans' match. especially in the second half. They dominated us physically. They played a great match. I don't want to take that away from them,» he added.

Sunday's other quarter-finalist losers, Fiji, also criticized the refereeing during the match, with Waisea Nayakalevu saying the referees had an unconscious bias towards certain teams.

Fabien Galthie, head coach of France, urged his players to be “brave” by reaching the quarter-finals, despite many people believing they would help win the tournament.

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“I think about our supporters, families, people who believe in us every day, who were around us, who put in all the work. The players are of course our French team, which must be brave today,” Galthie said.

“No regrets. You are allowed to lose, like we did today. We have done everything we can to optimize our potential and deal with all the events that have occurred over the past 15 weeks.”