Australian referee Stu Dickinson's disallowance of an English try in the Rugby World Cup final has given him the same infamy as the English referee Wayne Barnes.

Wikipedia, an online encyclopaedia normally able to be edited by any user, has had to restrict access to the entry on Dickinson, who reviewed the video replays of Mark Cueto crossing the line and ruled he put a foot into touch first.

This month, Wikipedia had to give similar protection to the page on Wayne Barnes, who made several calls that some All Blacks fans claim unfairly cost the New Zealand team victory in the quarter-final match against France.

Before the page on Barnes was protected to edits only by established Wikipedia members, the article on him reported that he died in 2007 through being "lynched by a mob of people with 20/20 vision ... his corpse was pelted by rugby passes in a BACKWARD direction".

Wikipedia was quicker to protect Dickinson's page, with abusive comments about his ruling on Cueto's try - the only time either side crossed the other's line and which would have given England the lead for the first time - restricted to the discussion page instead.

Debate on the page cited "the integrity of Wikipedia" over its use of a BBC photo which was inconclusive about showing Cueto's foot touching the sideline before he grounded the ball.

The BBC itself said Dickinson's call was correct.

Wikipedia prides itself on having a neutral point of view, including citing contentious decisions. The page on Barnes mentions his decisions in the All Blacks match "caused controversy among fans and commentators alike.

Most notably, he missed a forward pass which resulted directly in a converted try for France late in the match

The Press