It was a stand-out moment in the Wallabies captaincy of John Eales when, with 25 minutes left in the 1999 World Cup final against France at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, he approached the referee and threatened to lead his team off the field in opposition to the dirty play of Les Bleus.

The Wallabies had been warned about underhanded French antics, and the Wallabies had prepared. But Eales eventually lost his patience with their grubby play that caused prop Richard Harry, hooker Michael Foley and himself, among others, being eye gouged.

The tipping point came in a break when Australia were up 18-12 and flanker David Wilson emerged with his chin cut by a stray French boot.

"I said 'Right … this is beyond the joke'," Eales told Fairfax Media on Friday of the moment after earlier attempts to get South African referee Andre Watson to address his concerns failed.

As Eales recalls in John Eales: The Biography, he told Watson: "I fear for my team's safety. If this continues, we will leave the field, we will just leave the field."

Fortunately, the French took heed, the game resumed and Australia won the World Cup 35-12.

But Eales' "gall" to threaten the unthinkable still became rugby folklore, says former Wallabies teammate Matt Burke who was fullback in the final.

"Imagine if it didn't stop and Andre Watson didn't do anything about it," said Burke, equating Eales' threat to calling an opponent's bluff in poker.

"You are putting pressure on the guy in the middle to make sure it doesn't happen.

"They were pre-empting it [wouldn't], but you have to have some gall to be able to do that."

Rod Macqueen, the 1999 Wallabies coach, says he was warned about the French tactics by the All Blacks following their semi-final loss to France.

"What we didn't want to happen was for it to continue," Macqueen said.

"The obvious way to do that was to put the referee on notice in no uncertain terms."

Besides leading his team to victory that night, Eales also showed how a leader can take affirmative but considered action under pressure.

"You make decisions on the spot, and you have to use your judgment to do that," Eales said.

"You don't always have hours to think about it so you back your instinct."

It is especially so when the spirit of play is compromised, as Eales felt it was then – and as it was felt by Brumbies flanker David Pocock and others last Sunday during their Super Rugby derby against the Waratahs at Allianz Stadium in Sydney.

Mid-way into the second half, Pocock – supported by his captain Stephen Moore and Scott Fardy - raised concerns with referee Craig Joubert of homophobic slurs by a Waratahs forward.

On Monday, South African flanker Jacques Potgieter was fined by the Australian Rugby Union $20,000 – with $10,000 suspended – for using the word "faggot" and apologised.

The stance by Pocock, who has publicly supported same sex marriage and opposed coal mining, attracted as much discussion as Potgieter's slurs.

Eales says the line between appropriate or inappropriate play or tactics in a contact sport like rugby is not as fine as some would like to think, and neither is it with decisions made on field.

"There is a lot of grey, and the nature of leadership and the decisions you have to make is that there is going to be a lot of grey around a lot of those decisions," he said.

"That's why you get debate about these things."

Eales has "a very high regard for David as a leader," citing qualities beyond his football skills. "He is clearly a very decent human being," Eales said..

"That is so important … he stands up for what he thinks is right."

But Eales' view is not a voice on who should captain the Wallabies or not, saying: "You can distinguish between leadership and captaincy."

Pocock's a stand on issues should not figure in the captaincy equation, he said.

"People are talking about it. It has no relevance," Eales said.

"For anyone to consider he is not going to captain because he takes a stand like that is very short-sighted.

"Everyone in the team has opportunities to demonstrate leadership. The more they take those opportunities, the less it matters who has the C beside their name."

Blues coach John Kirwan, in Sydney for the game against the Waratahs on Saturday night, said: "As far as someone speaking out for a minority people and getting punished for it, I don't agree with that.

"If someone's going to speak out and protect homosexuality, he should never be punished for it.

"Why would that stop someone being a leader? He's being a leader by speaking out.

"Society and times are changing."

Reaction to incidents like last Sunday's are a public awareness of that change, the former All Black said.

"In the heat of the battle people will say things they possibly don't mean or look for a psychological angle.  We just can't condone that or accept it," Kirwan said.

Waratahs captain Dave Dennis says the issue will not impact his interaction with Pocock when Waratahs and Brumbies in the Wallabies selection frame assemble in Brisbane on Sunday for the next Wallabies squad team meeting.

"I have a lot of respect of Dave as a player and as a person so I'm sure we'll get along just fine," Dennis said.

"I might have a chat to Moorey and Poey if I feel that it's necessary, but I've got a good relationship with those guys.

"I'd like to think what the club's done and what Jacques has done this week has gone some way towards apologising to those guys and the Brumbies."