Gold strikes wrong note with referee

LONDON IRISH coach Gary Gold could find himself in hot water with the English RFU following his furious condemnation of referee Sean Davey.

Gold went on the attack after Irish slumped to a 16-12 home defeat against Zurich Premiership rivals Leeds - but he might now face a disrepute charge.

Leeds, with flankers Dan Hyde and Colm Rigney in the sin-bin, survived five late scrums on their own line to deny Irish and prompt a verbal volley from Gold.

“The officiating was a shambles and a disgrace,” he said. “People’s jobs are on the line because of results like this.

“I don’t know who is going to be accountable for that, but I thought we should have had a penalty try. When you camp on their line and you’ve been superior in the scrum all day, what it does it take to get a penalty try?

“The RFU must start paying and training 12 full-time professional referees so they can do the job properly.”