Viadana hopes for better luck with referee in return clash

VIADANA coach Jerome Paarwater asks only one thing of ERC for Saturday's return Heineken Cup game with Munster in Parma - a quality referee.

Paarwater stopped short of openly castigating Welsh referee Hugh Watkins at Musgrave Park on Friday but was disappointed with the way his side were treated in a 64-point defeat

"I found some of the decisions amazing. We never got a break during the game. We were adjudged to have committed many technical fouls in the scrums, some in the line-outs as well and we didn't have similar problems in our previous games "I was surprised and dismayed at some of the decisions, particularly the awarding of a penalty try against us. The score at that stage was 50-0 to Munster and, fair enough, a maul did collapse near our line. But I wonder who exactly brought it down and I also wonder whether Munster would have scored anyway. "There were a couple of occasions when Munster did not have the required number of players in the line-outs but that was ignored. It was very frustrating for the players."

That is not to say that Paarwater had any axe to grind with Munster. "They did what they had to do and they played the conditions very well.

"Munster are a quality side and they don't make too many mistakes. Even though we play them at home this week, it will be a tough struggle "We need to get a bit of confidence back after this defeat. In the previous two matches, we managed to score some good tries at least. Even if we are beaten, I would hope that we can run Munster much closer and I am certain that we are capable of doing that."

Munster panellist Denis Leamy faces an IRFU disciplinary meeting tomorrow evening, following a citing charge by Old Belvedere.

Leamy is just one of four players to be cited after a recent AIB League game between UCC and Old Belvedere at the Mardyke.

UCC have responded by citing three Old Belvedere players but, according to IRFU rules, none of those players will be named unless found guilty of the charges against them.

IRFU official George Spotswood insisted yesterday: "Denis Leamy was not named by us. It is our policy not to name players in advance of any such hearing, unless that player had been sent off by the referee of the day."