Foley wants clarity on dangerous play

Munster head coach Anthony Foley has asked for clarity from referees over dangerous play after seeing Peter O’Mahony taken out off the ball by Clermont lock Jamie Cudmore.

Referee Wayne Barnes took no action against Cudmore over the 46th minute incident when the Munster captain was hit late by the second row, nor earlier in the game when O’Mahony was subjected to a flurry of punches by Fritz Lee.

“We would have seen that as dangerous play,” Foley said of the Cudmore incident before pointing his sense of inconsistency from officials in the wake of Donncha O’Callaghan’s two-week ban, enforced last Wednesday, for kicking an Ulster player the previous weekend.

“Some weeks you try and kick a ball and you get two weeks for your troubles. Things that are deemed reckless one week are not deemed reckless the next. It is frustrating but we’ll get on with it.

“I know (Barnes) said out on the pitch ‘it isn’t tennis’ but dangerous play is dangerous play.”

Munster fly-half Ian Keatley did not suggest any foul play but admitted Clermont had “beat us up a bit” in terms of physicality and “we can’t use the referee as an excuse”.

“We were getting beaten up and I still think we were finding a way to win. We got a bit unlucky kicking to corners a few times. They positioned themselves very well. One extra metre on the ball and it goes into touch and we’re putting pressure back on them.”

Keatley took some comfort from keeping Clermont scoreless for the second-half and insisted having to now travel to Stade Marcel Michelin needing a win to stay alive in the pool next Sunday was not a daunting prospect, despite the French side’s unbeaten home record in Europe stretching back to 2008.

“We didn’t lose on our home ground in the Heineken Cup (for years) as well,” the fly-half said. “Everyone is beatable and we’ll do our homework. It’s going to be about using our intelligence.

“As we have seen they are a strong, physical team, we’re going to have to take it to them and we’re going to have to be smart about it.

“We had the wind in the second-half so we talked about trying to play a bit more field position, just keep putting pressure back on them. We did that. They didn’t have many chances in the second-half. They didn’t score.

“We did what we said we’d do. Put the pressure on them, get the field position but then when we got into their 22 it was literally like coming up against a brick wall. We’re going to have to take a look at that, have a look at ourselves and try and be more clever in those attacking areas.”