Kidney rues baffling series of decisions

SHOULD it have been a penalty try? If not, should Fraser Waters have been yellow carded?

Was the ball out when Marcus Horan allegedly came in from the side in the 56th minute, and not only conceded three points but also spent 10 minutes in the bin?

These were just two of the many talking points after Saturday’s thrilling Heineken Cup game at the Ricoh Arena where Wasps pipped Munster. Typically, Munster coach Declan Kidney left it up to everybody to judge for themselves, stressing it was all over the television and there for everybody to see. In other words, Wasps got away with blue murder.

As always it depends on the way you see things. Wasps director of rugby Ian McGeechan believed it should have been a penalty to his side because, he insisted, Brian Carney had illegally tackled Fraser Waters while he was on the ground. It all depends on what coloured glasses you wear in these situations.

“There’s enough television coverage and it’s clear for people to see what happened.” declared a clearly unhappy Kidney. “For me to go on and rant and rave about it isn’t going to serve any purpose. Everybody saw what happened. We’ve lost the game by a point. It’s there, just watch it on tv.

“There was a spell in the first half when in the space of three minutes we conceded 10 points and that’s obviously a big turnaround. It happened again in the second half when they again got eight points very quickly, and those short lapses gave them the scores to win. In terms of scoring they were the vital points.”

McGeechan claimed to be perplexed at the way games are being refereed at the breakdown, and suffered a little touch of selective deafness when the Carney and Horan incidents were raised. Initially, he pretended I was referring to the Horan’s binning, but when I persisted on the Carney-Waters clash, he insisted “it should have been our penalty because Fraser Waters was held on the ground.”

When Lawrence Dallaglio added his support, the top brass of the English rugby media — some of whom had earlier insisted it should have been a penalty try — were suddenly rendered silent and it was not possible to progress the situation any further! McGeechan and Dallaglio were on safer territory when lauding their side for twice coming from 10 points in arrears. They were correct in claiming that in doing so they demonstrated the character in the side, and they will certainly make a bold defence of their title.

For the past couple of weeks Ronan O’Gara has looked positive and refreshed. and a man enjoying his rugby once again, and these factors were reflected in an admirable display that was almost a copybook of what out-half play should be at this level of rugby.

“I think it’s a game we left behind, and that’s not being disrespectful to Wasps”, he said. “At this level of competition, small things matter. We were twice 10 points ahead, and if we had kicked on to 16 or 17, I felt it would have been game over.

“We were itching to get into the drop goal or penalty area towards the end. According to Malcolm (Changleng), there were 12 minutes to go when we got a penalty on halfway. If it was seven minutes or less, I might have had a go, but with 12 the chances are you will get two cracks at it. We could have gone for it — we got the line-out but it just didn’t work out on this occasion.

“The way the lads played we have to be disappointed. It was an exciting Munster back line to play in. Our pack has always been our strong point, but I enjoyed playing out there today. I’m not suggesting that we’re going home with our heads down, but it could have been, a big, big win for us today and if we had won I don’t think too many people would have been complaining.

“We executed poorly once or twice and spilled the ball a few times, and that’s nothing to do with coaching. That’s to do with individuals. At times it was really good out there: the coach gave us a great plan and we stuck to that, and it’s just a pity that when we were 10 points ahead, we didn’t drive on.”

It’s a rarity when the man of the match award goes to a player on the losing team, but that’s what makes this accolade to Alan Quinlan all the more impressive. Like the entire Munster camp, he rued the failure of the side to capitalise on leading by 10 points in either half, although in his usual fashion he was full of praise for Wasps for the manner in which they coped in adversity

“We needed a bit of luck to get that extra score, but credit to Wasps, they have a lot of self belief and a lot of inspirational players, they kept coming at us,” the Tipperary man accepted. “We competed at every breakdown and every contact situation. I don’t want to criticise the referee, but we were baffled at some of the decision at the break down.

“Obviously, we gave away some penalties that helped the Wasps cause, but that comes from pressure from them as well. We lifted our level of performance and intensity today and I’m sure Wasps would agree it was a very intense game.

“We’re really disappointed because in the past we’ve won those types of games when we’ve had the bounce of the ball and a bit of luck, and we’ve come away with the result. In our first game last year against Leicester we were probably fortunate to get away with a win, but there’s a long way to go and we will learn from today.”