Jaco Peyper has sent plenty of players from the field in his refereeing career but this time the South African official was forced to trudge off himself after suffering a calf injury in the Wales v Argentina quarter-final.

Assistant referee Karl Dickson took over refereeing duties when Peyper was forced off after 15 minutes in Marseille. The Englishman was met with a swathe of boos from the Argentina fans in the crowd for the remainder of the first half.

Read more: Rugby World Cup quarter-finals referees announced

Watch as Peyper goes off injured

Before making his departure from the Stade Velodrome, 43-year-old Peyper shook hands with both captains, Jac Morgan of Wales and Julian Montoya of Argentina.

Peyper’s early bath caused a stir on social media with rugby fans and onlookers alike.

One wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Feel for Jaco Peyper having to come off, he’ll be devastated. Very seldom have to sub off a ref.”

Some even made jokes about Dickson’s failure to hand out any cards after taking over the reins. One said: “Did Jaco Peyper forget to give Karl Dickson the cards when he went off?”

It was the second successive Wales quarter-final that the South African had been appointed to after taking charge of Warren Gatland’s side when they took on France back in 2019. Wales won by just a single point, prevailing 20-19.

France’s Sébastien Vahaamahina was sent off by Peyper for elbowing Wales back-row Aaron Wainwright in the head during a maul. Peyper later controversially posed for a photo with Wales fans with his elbow out and was not handed a semi-final tie by World Rugby.

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