Saints coach questions Irish ref Lacey over Wood sin-binning

NORTHAMPTON coach Jim Mallinder has questioned the consistency of refereeing in the Heineken Cup after his side suffered a crushing defeat at sunny Stade Pierre Antoine.

Mallinder was left perplexed by the decision of Irish whistleblower John Lacey to sin bin flanker Tom Wood who was adjudged to have illegally collapsed a maul on Northampton’s 22, in the second-half. It proved to be a costly decision for Saints, who conceded two tries during his absence.

“They had a massive impact,” said Mallinder. “It’s frustrating because when we played Munster away, Paul O’Connell did something similar with a few minutes to go and that was fine but Tom Wood, the first time he does it, gets a yellow card.”

Saints got off to the worst possible start when some lax defending allowed flanker Steve Malonga in for a try after two minutes. The visitors responded with tries through lock Mark Sorenson and wing Jamie Elliot but Castres kept their noses in front thanks to the cultured right boot of Teulet who landed seven of eight shots at goal.

When Stephen Myler was sent to the bin just after the half hour mark for a high tackle on Thomas Sanchou, Castres kicked to the corner and stretched their lead when man of the match Romain Martial got on the end of a beautifully judged grubber kick from Chris Masoe.

An intercept try by wing Elliot early in the second half narrowed the deficit but when Wood was binned, the home side to capitalise with tries from Martial and Diarra.

Scorers for Castres: Tries: Martial 2, Diarra, Malonga. Cons: Teulet 3. Pens : Teulet 5.

Scorers for Northampton: Tries : Sorenson, Manoa, Elliot 2. Cons Myler.

CASTRES: Teulet; Martial, Sanchou (Bonnefond 79), Bai, Evans: Tales (Bernard 31), Kockott (Lacrampe 74); Coetzee (Peikrishvili 61), Rallier (Bonello 58), Ducalcon (Kruger 80), Murray, Capo Ortega (Rolland 73), Diarra, Malonga (Caballero 78), Masoe.

NORTHAMPTON: Foden; Artemyev, Pisi, May (Clarke 75), Elliot; Myler (Lamb 58), Dickson (Roberts 68); Tonga’uiha (Waller 63), Hartley (c) (Haywood 76), Doran-Jones (Mercey 76), Lawes (Craig 72), Sorenson, Wood (Ingle 80), Nutley, Manoa.

Referee: John Lacey (IRFU).