Anscombe: We were pretty hard done by

Controversy is still raging over the red card administered to Ulster’s Jared Payne by French referee Jerome Garces four minutes into a rip-roaring Heineken Cup quarter-final tie at Ravenhill on Saturday.

Both coaches, Ulster’s Mark Anscombe and Saracens Mark McCall, were adamant the punishment was too severe and Payne’s unintentional clash with his opposite number Andy Goode only merited a yellow card.

Ulster skipper Johann Muller also weighed in saying that Payne was punished for the injury rather than the offence after Goode was stretchered off with concussion.

While Anscombe appeared philosophical about his team being reduced to 14 men virtually from the outset, you could get the feeling his was seething inside despite an apparent cool exterior.

“It was a collision in the air and I felt it didn’t warrant a red card,” said Anscombe. “Sometimes I think it is the emotion of injury that creates the penalty and I think at worst it was a yellow card.

“I think we were pretty hard done by,” added Anscombe, who did not speak to the referee after the game. “No I didn’t speak to him, not today. If you look at the incident closely, you can see that Jared is looking at the ball the whole time, so how’s that a red card. Again it was the emotion of the injury.”

McCall had similar thoughts: “It definitely wasn’t intentional but it was reckless. You can argue both ways but it was a big call to make five minutes into the match and it changes the match.”

Anscombe was obviously full of praise for his side despite the disappointing outcome. “When you consider that 12 minutes into the game we have lost a top player in Jared Payne, Rory Best, who departed with an ankle injury, and Ruan Pienaar struggling with a shoulder injury. When we play well, those three guys are to fore, so to lose them and hang in to the death is a testament to the whole squad.

“But I just feel that because the incident wasn’t cynical, and I don’t think anyone thought it was, and the punishment meted out just changed the whole emphasis of the game.”

Muller added: “I saw on the big screen at the time, that Jared never took his eye off that ball. Yes, the safety of the player is paramount, but Jared didn’t see him [Andy Goode] coming when he made contact. So I thought the red card was really, really harsh.

“I said those words to Mr Garces at the time. I told him to go upstairs and have a look at it again on the big screen. I don’t know who actually made the decision to give Jared a red whether it was the referee or the TMO.

“The referee did explain why he gave the red card. He said the player came down on his head and that automatically means red.

“If we had of gone on to win that game it would have been the best moment of my rugby career, and that includes winning the World Cup! The character of those players showed has made me massively, massively proud. But the result will haunt us for the rest of our days.”