Frustrated England coach vents anger on referee

THE IRISH are never too quick at assembling for the post-match press conferences. So it was again yesterday, when Andy Robinson and his English backroom team got the first bite and took the opportunity to lash into South African referee Jonathan Kaplan.

From the calm, self-satisfied manner in which his Irish counterpart Eddie O’Sullivan and skipper Brian O’Driscoll dealt with the inevitable inquisition about Robinson’s attack on Kaplan, you sensed they regarded it simply as sour grapes and not something that would worry them.

Having led Ireland to their second successive victory over the World Cup champions, scored his record breaking 26th try for his country (one more than Denis Hickie) and proved his recovery from his injured hamstring, O’Driscoll looked as happy as the cat who got the cream.