SYDNEY -- Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt will not face any disciplinary action for his comments on the controversial conclusion to last Saturday's second British and Irish Lions Test, while World Rugby has confirmed that the findings of an ongoing review into Jac Morgan's clean-out won't be made public.
World Rugby boss Alan Gilpin was in Sydney on Tuesday to unveil the ticketing process for Rugby World Cup 2027, which will begin with the launch of small portion of "Superfan" passes from next month.
Speaking to media as part of the unveiling, Gilpin made a short statement about the Wallabies-Lions controversy and the decision that has divided the rugby world, before saying he would be "making no further comment".
But the World Rugby boss then fronted up to reporters separately where he backed his officials, said they were holding up okay despite the intense reaction, and confirmed that Schmidt would face no further sanction over his "emotional" post-match comments.
"No, look, I think Joe, you know, there's a lot of emotion, understandably," Gilpin replied when asked if Schmidt would be facing any disciplinary action. "You know, the Wallabies had a chance to win an amazing Test match. So, we understand the emotion involved in that.
"I think Joe's comments have continued to respect the fact that the match officials have got a tough job to do. He might disagree with the decisions that were made, but I don't think he's called the integrity of our match officials into question."
The comment that could have landed Schmidt in some trouble was that the decision not to penalize Morgan, and overturn what was the series-sealing try by Hugo Keenan, did not "really live up to the big player safety push that they're talking about."
While Gilpin did not address that comment directly, he expressed his disappointment over the fact that a lot of the commentary had questioned World Rugby's commitment to player welfare.
"I think it's disappointing when the reaction is one of this means player welfare's not taken seriously, because I think we've worked really, really hard on that narrative," Gilpin said. "And, you know, everyone knows we're putting that player welfare in its broadest sense at the top of the agenda.
"You can see that across what we're doing with instrumented mouthguards, all the research, the science, the investment. The way that the laws of the game have evolved in recent years is about how do we have this great physical contest but make it as safe as possible?
"So, I think that part's challenging in terms of the player welfare sort of statements. But, yeah, it's, you know, we've got a fantastic sport played in front of an amazing crowd, incredible game.
"It's going to create talking points. And we know that. And as long as that continues to be a respectful kind of talking point and debate, then I think we all just got to lean into it."
Gilpin said that the review would be finished in the coming days and that only minutes earlier he had a brief chat with Rugby Australia boss Phil Waugh, who had asked for an "explanation" and some "accountability" from World Rugby over the decision.
But he said the findings would not be made public, despite suggestions it would help alleviate some of the supporter unrest and clear up exactly how clean-outs like Morgan should be adjudicated in the future.
"We won't talk publicly about that decision; the decision's happened, the game's finished and move on," Gilpin said.
"We'll share and we do share with Joe and the coaching team why the match officials made that decision. Joe's got a view about what was wrong with that decision making and there'll be a debate between them about that, so that Joe and his players can go into the next Test understanding how that game's going to be officiated.
"I think what we've seen in the past is it [making public comment] does explode because there's always going to be, you know, regardless of what we say about the rights or wrongs of a particular decision, there will be one group who disagree and that's what in the past has led to match officials being retargeted."
Meanwhile, the Rugby World Cup 2027 ticketing process will kick-off with the release of a "Superpass" that will be limited in number to just 2027.
The pass represents a "golden ticket" of sorts, whereby 2027 lucky individuals will have first crack at four tickets to any of the 52 matches, up to a limit of 52 tickets in total.
The on-sale process will otherwise begin in February 2026 when a closed presale for fans registered to rugbyworldcup.com/2027.