Australia vs Scotland, Rugby World Cup quarter-final - live: Foley breaks Scottish hearts as Wallabies march on

Australia vs Scotland, Rugby World Cup - Bernard Foley lands routine penalty in 80th minute after Scots had fought back to lead 34-32 at Twickenham

Cruel, cruel, cruel, and hugely contentious. The sight of the South ­African referee Craig Joubert sprinting down the Twickenham tunnel at the final whistle with the speed of Usain Bolt suggested that he was already aware of the controversy he had ignited with his award of the last-minute penalty that enabled Australia, the overwhelming favourites, to escape with the World Cup quarter-final booty, the fly-half Bernard Foley landing the kick that spared a ­nation’s blushes and condemned the other lot to abject misery.

It would have been Scotland’s finest hour. Instead the manner of the loss will haunt them. A water bottle came flying through the air and burst on the turf just inches from Joubert, a measure, albeit ­unacceptable, of the crowd’s anger.

The former Scotland full-back Gavin Hastings declared Joubert’s unbecoming dash for the sanctuary of the dressing room “a despicable act”, a view echoed by the former England scrum-half Matt Dawson.

There was enough confusion as to what precisely happened, as well as to the law of the game involved, for there to have been at least a conversation with the touch-judges.

A ball had gone loose from Scot David Denton at the tail of a line-out, was knocked on by Scotland, then touched the Wallaby scrum-half Nick Phipps before being picked up by a Scot. It was a chaotic situation.

Yet Joubert ruled definitively, and wrongly, given that Phipps was ­later to admit that he had been ­trying to play the ball and therefore effectively rendered the Scot, Jon Welsh, onside. “I think everyone was trying to win the ball there,” said Phipps, who was grasping at the ball only to knock it on. “We were all going for it.”

Scotland’s captain, Greg Laidlaw, was asked if he had approached the referee for clarification. “I never got the chance, he was off that quick,” the scrum-half said. “He was taking his time and he wasn’t sure of himself. He made a sharp exit at the end of the game, that’s for sure. There is a pretty upset dressing room in there as you can imagine.”

Vern Cotter, the Scotland head coach, restricted himself to say that “it would have been nice” if there had been consultations with other officials. The strict protocol of the use of the television match official does not allow for him to be used for such incidents, only foul play and the two phases leading up to the scoring of tries. If technology is in place, it seems daft that it cannot be used in high-stakes circumstances.

Joubert ruled that the Scotland replacement, Jon Welsh, was in an offside position following the initial knock-on by John Hardie. The point of dispute, law 11.3 (c), revolves around whether Phipps “intentionally” played the ball, in which case Welsh was not offside. Phipps’s post-match comments confirmed that he had. In real time, it was evident that the substitute No 9 was desperately trying to get possession as his side were staring down the barrel of an ignominious defeat. It was a fine-line call, an unfitting way to end such a rousing game.

Michael Cheika adopted the stoical approach, as well he might. “I have learnt to become neutral in these things as you only see things emotionally with your natural bias,” said the Wallabies’ head coach. “You have got to live with what you get and what you don’t get. That is the way it works. We still had to kick the goal.”

And so they did, Australia winning through to the semi-final where they will face Argentina next Sunday, in the first clean sweep by the southern hemisphere in World Cup history.

We had come to apply the last rites to northern-hemisphere rugby but Scotland delayed the scattering of those ashes over the Twickenham turf with a display of such wit and daring that any such obituary must now come laden with caveats. On this evidence, the southern superpowers are not invincible.