Australia coach Michael Cheika said Sunday he "did not know the rules anymore" and that "as a former rugby player, I am embarrassed by" some of the officiating during his team's 29-25 loss to Wales in Tokyo in Pool D of the Rugby World Cup.

Cheika was particularly incensed by referee Romain Poite's decision involving Samu Kerevi after the Australia center, who will join Suntory Sungoliath after the tournament, ran into defender Rhys Patchell.

(Michael Cheika)[Getty/Kyodo]

The incident saw Wallabies captain Michael Hooper question the Frenchman, saying Patchell had a "terrible tackle technique" before adding "so you can't run into the tackle any more?"

"It was pretty funny because I thought I had seen that tackle before, it could have been Reece Hodge, I'm not sure," said Cheika, referring to the Australia wing who was handed a three-week ban for a high tackle following Australia's opening game against Fiji.

"When our guy makes that tackle and has the high tackle framework in his head, he gets suspended. This guy doesn't think about the high tackle framework and we get penalized."

Hooper had earlier been the subject of a long conferral between Poite and the television match official following a tackle on Dan Biggar.

"I knew I hit him low," said Hooper. "The slow-mo makes it look like anything."

(Referee Romain Poite speaks with Samu Kerevi, left, and Michael Hooper of Australia)[Getty/Kyodo]

Wales coach Warren Gatland said he did not really see the Kerevi incident but agreed with Hooper that "slow-mo does seem to make things worse."

But he refused to get drawn further, saying, "There has been a lot of criticism but I do not want to get involved and there are things there they have to follow. It's important the judiciary takes care of them and we abide by that."

Wales wing Josh Adams also had a tackle looked at by the TMO on the day England center Piers Francis was cleared for a tackle in their Pool C game with the United States.

Cheika said the partial power outage at the end of the game at Tokyo Stadium (Ajinomoto Stadium) was representative of the confusion.

"They are all worried about stuff so much," said Cheika, "It's affecting everything else, all types of crazy stuff. That English guy got off. If you are not confused then the lights going out at the end was a symbol."

"I don't understand any more. The referees are worried about making the wrong decision and they are ultra-cautious. It's not inviting to the fans. They shouldn't be booing and they were not booing at the players."