I was in Manchester attending the latest stop on the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) Grand Prix circuit. But for a few minutes yesterday, all focus on the sport in front of us was lost as we gathered around a media colleague’s laptop to watch the closing stages of the Scotland against Australia quarter-final at the Rugby World Cup.

Sport has a wonderful habit of occasionally producing “drop-everything” moments where something almost too ridiculous to imagine happens - the marathon John Isner versus Nicolas Mahut tennis match at Wimbledon in 2010 and the final afternoon of the 2012 English Premier League season are two such occasions - and this was another.

Scotland are the perennial whipping boys of the British Isles, or were until England’s home World Cup of woe unfolded, anyway, but for a curious reason they have a strong record against Australia. So it proved again and, as the rain lashed down at Twickenham Stadium, the Wallabies veered from erratic to hopeless as the Scots took a 34-32 lead.

But then, with three minutes to go, Australia were awarded a penalty and Bernard Foley, who had seemed a shadow of his match-winning self against England and Wales, stepped forward and nailed it for a one-point victory.

Earlier in the weekend, we had seen a similarly nail-biting thriller in which South Africa edged out Wales, while New Zealand and Argentina were outstanding in carving apart France and Ireland.

Yet the taekwondo also produced magic moments of its own. Moments after Wales had lost in the rugby, the nation’s best known Olympian Jade Jones had produced a hat-trick of headkicks to pulverise Spanish arch-nemesis Eva Calvo-Gomez and win under 57 kilograms gold.

Taekwondo, particularly on the women’s side, has a habit of producing fights these days which are high on tension and tactical nous but low on action and flamboyance. Living up to her nickname of “head-hunter”, in her dazzling 15-second spell she managed to combine all four of these qualities in a burst of skill which would surely have proved too much for any opponent in the world.

It was one of the best performances of Jones’ career, with the London 2012 Olympic champion having a habit of saving her best for the home stage.

Not far behind in the excitement stakes was the cricket, as a drab Test Match on a lifeless pitch in Abu Dhabi between England and Pakistan burst into life spectacularly on the final day.

After both teams compiled huge first innings totals on a wicket which offered nothing for the bowlers, England suddenly found their form and, led by leg spinning debutant Adil Rashid, Pakistan were skittled for 173 second time around, leaving England just 99 to win as light faded in the final session.

Sending their big hitters out first, England set off in pursuit of victory with gusto, but agonisingly fell short as the match was stopped for bad light in near darkness with England still 25 runs adrift.

Only in cricket would you get a match which could be so exciting but still end in a draw after five days.

Two things struck me from all of this.

Firstly, and this is a fairly obvious point, the importance of the mental side of high-level sport.

“Even we wouldn’t have made that mistake,” muttered one journalist when Australian prop James Slipper threw an inexplicably awful pass which was intercepted for a Scotland try.

But, despite the age-old thesis that front row forwards cannot pass, Slipper could have made that over and over in training and it was the pressure of the situation which made him fall short.

Australia’s Bernard Foley endured an error-strewn game but held it together when it mattered with the crucial match-winning penalty, just like England cricket captain Alistair Cook did in a superb innings of 263 against Pakistan, batting for a record 797 minutes

“So many of these players are of a similar standard, and the difference is all in the head,” a member of the Great Britain coaching team told me at the taekwondo. “Having the belief that you are good enough to win.”

My second thought concerned how all of these events were in some way controversial and affected by the decisions of the officials.

French referee Craig Joubert awarded Australia their late penalty for an alleged - but fiercely disputed - offside, then prompted more outrage by leaving the pitch without shaking hands with the players straight after the final whistle (although this was perhaps just because he needed the bathroom…)

In the cricket, there was the decision of whether to play on in ever-diminishing light, with a proposal to switch from a red to a more visible green ball having since been raised.

And in the taekwondo, there was a thrilling semi-final last night between Britain’s Lutalo Muhammad and Iran’s world champion Mahdi Khodabakhshi, The Iranian has been unbeatable all year but suffered an injury in the first-round. Twice he was lying prostate on the mat, and twice he carried on, clearly in agony, when everyone in the stadium was expecting and willing him to withdraw.

Despite coming close he ultimately lost before being unable to emerge for his medals ceremony and departing to hospital for treatment. Surely someone, either the World Taekwondo Federation or the Iranian team, should have stepped in and prevented him from fighting on?

Taekwondo, of course, is a sport which has struggled with judging decisions perhaps more than any other in recent years and, while problems remain, much has improved.

It's also worth noting that matches in Manchester were far more exciting than in other recent tournaments, just like the nature of games in the Rugby World Cup. Officials from both governing bodies therefore deserve credit for having made necessary changes to make the game easier on the eye, although more work remains.

But as I write, it strikes me that part of the reason we watch sport is for the drama and controversy. Whatever changes are made, and cricket, rugby and taekwondo have all introduced video technology in recent years, mistakes will still occur and this partly adds to the fun, particularly from a media perspective.

And if it contributes to more weekends as thrilling as this one, perhaps we shouldn't worry too much.