Munster penalty count irks Penney

It’s not the norm to publicly berate rugby referees, but there are ways around protocol and Munster coach Rob Penney found discreet but forceful ways of airing his annoyance after Saturday’s match at Thomond Park.

Penney hadn’t had a chance to fully reflect on the handling of Munster’s Heineken Cup clash by stand-in referee Pascal Gauzere but was clearly perplexed by his side’s concession of 18 full penalties and three free kicks, twice as many as Saracens and five times as many conceded during the previous match against Glasgow.

When pressed on the performance of Frenchman Gauzere, Penney admitted, “passion, desire and fervour” took players into the danger zone and “we were rightfully sanctioned for these.”

However, reflecting on the stats, Penney referred to the last week’s RaboDirect win over Glasgow, when his side conceded just four and he wondered aloud how on earth the total could increase so much: “There are times (other) we come through matches with a better understanding if it was us (players fault); hopefully if it is not us then the referees can get a bit of understanding out of it as too.”

Penney let slip his real feelings at the end of the after-match press conference after the following question was posed: “Looking at the two back-to-back games, would you be happy if this was half time, would you be happy going into the second-half, the second half being next week?”

The response came in the form of a question: “Have we the same officials (next week)?”

Nevertheless, Penney will take serious note of what happened in Limerick. As much as Saracens will reflect on how Munster dismantled their previously perfect lineout, the two-time champions will examine each and every breakdown, every scrum or any other incident that led to the frustrating concession of penalties at every hands turn.

“Yes,” said Penney, “I think there is an opportunity for us all to learn there. We probably got a couple of things wrong and we’ll check over the video in the early part of the week and see if we can establish some common ground. If we have something we’ve to get right then we’ll be working on that area to make sure we do, and if we have to have some growth in our understanding of the interpretations then we have to get that right too.”

The coach indicated there would be communication with the referees’ organisation in the coming days. “The referees, they are human and will hopefully be really receptive to anything we have to say because we have (always) endeavoured to be on the front foot (in dealings with officialdom).”

Apart from some questions on the penalty count, Penny was clearly happy with the outcome; the lineout return and with a number of individual performances, amongst them from Dave O’Callaghan and James Coughlan, the latter in another man-of-the-match winning display.

On O’Callaghan he said: “Dave was terrific, particularly in the first 20”, while he lauded another top notch display from Coughlan: “Look, you have seen him a lot more than me and there has been talk about him getting an Irish opportunity at some point. He would wear the green jersey very, very well. I know there are some great loosies floating around at the moment but James, we know what his strengths are and he plays to them so well.”