Humphreys rounds on refs over scrum inconsistencies

THERE were mixed emotions for the Ospreys squad as they left Thomond Park last night with a losing bonus point but ruing missed opportunities in Munster’s back yard.

On the credit side, their bonus point keeps Heineken Cup pool three wide open as the Welsh region prepares to host the Irish province this Saturday at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea. On the other side of the ledger, the sin-binning of prop Paul James and the two Munster tries scored in his absence, as well as Ospreys’ failure to capitalise on their own numerical advantage following the sending off of Paul O’Connell, rankled deeply with forwards coach Jonathan Humphreys after the match.

“We’re disappointed we didn’t get the win,” Humphreys said. “We felt after Tommy (Bowe’s early second-half) try that if we could have got back down, perhaps got a bit of good possession and got a big score clear, it would have been different. We’re disappointed. Our intention was to come here and win and we didn’t do that.”

Following Bowe’s intercept try, any Ospreys’ momentum was neutralised by James’ yellow card and though referee Christophe Berdos appeared to indicate it was for pulling down the opposing front row, Humphreys criticised refereeing inconsistency for scrummaging squarely.

“I’ve got to raise why Paul James got yellow-carded on such a crucial area. I felt we were the dominant scrum out there and I have a big thing that referees need to referee tightheads. They have to and it’s very simple. If he doesn’t stay square, then it’s a penalty against him.

“Now, we go into this game knowing that Munster have two tightheads who do not scrummage square. He (Berdos) started the game refereeing that and then all of a sudden, out of the blue, Paul James gets yellow-carded. I’d like to know what the thinking or the reasoning behind that was.”

Humphreys said the yellow card had been “a big factor”, adding: “We were creators of our own downfall in terms of what we did there. We defended pretty well from that and just a couple of loose decisions meant that they went down the other end and scored.”

Ospreys captain Alun-Wyn Jones said the return leg next Saturday would be a different affair and mistakes would be rectified.

“We could have tightened things up (following O’Connell’s dismissal),” Jones said. “We were aware they were a man down and we probably tried to play a little bit too much to get the score. But we’ve learned a lot and they’re a lot of positives to take out of it.

“The forward pack and set-piece went really well and we had a lot of possession. It’s just what we do with that possession is going to be key. We’ve got a great intent to play, it’s just we’ve got to be a little more accurate with it.”

Humphreys was, however, extremely grateful for the bonus point. “It’s pretty even right now the group,” he said. “I thought it was an opportunity for one of us to get a distinct advantage. As it stands right now it’s probably even stevens.

“At one point they could have got the maximum and us nothing and that would have been difficult to come back from that. But we came here to win, that was our aspiration and we’re going back to what’s going to be the biggest crowd at the Liberty for a long, long time. Our supporters, we hope, will make as much noise and be as passionate as the Munster supporters are here.”