'There's no point in arguing' — Tadhg Beirne not focused on ref call after Munster narrow defeat 

The southern province were narrowly beaten at Toulon. 

MOVING ON: Ireland's Tadhg Beirne dejected after the match. Pic: INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Munster captain Tadhg Beirne refused to blame his side’s narrow Champions Cup pool defeat at Toulon on a pivotal refereeing decision late in the game that led to the game-clinching penalty for the home side.

Munster lost 27-25 in their Pool 2 clash at Stade Felix Mayol on Sunday having led 25-24 with nine minutes remaining after both teams scored three tries each in a pulsating contest between the former champions.

The match was decided by a 75th minute Marius Domon kick after referee Karl Dickson penalised Munster’s Jack O’Donoghue for “taking the space” at a breakdown. It seemed an extremely harsh decision and the visitors’ coaches’ box was incensed as it was made but neither head coach Clayton McMillan nor skipper Beirne were prepared to go public with their misgivings in their post-match comments.

"Look, you're in a tackle and he's saying ‘release him’ but like, you can't just get out of the way of them,” Beirne said. “But there's no point in arguing because once the decision is made, the decision is made.

"We may disagree or disagree, whatever, it doesn't really matter at the end of the day. It's not the reason we ended up losing the game."

McMillan said of Dickson: "Look, that's a world-class referee there and you pick those guys to make the key calls. He'll be the one that will go away and review it and make his own decision around whether it was right or wrong.

"There were a couple of other penalties that we gave away further up the field, especially from kick-offs that I think were unnecessary (to give away) and they just released the pressure valve. We'll always turn the attention in on ourselves first and those were a couple of areas where we need to be better.” After leaving the south of France with a losing bonus point, ensured in the last play of the game when fly-half Jack Crowley and replacement back-rower Ruadhan Quinn held up Toulon fly-half Tomas Albornoz as the Argentine dived over the tryline to score what would have been his side’s try bonus point.

It leaves Munster needing a home victory next Saturday over Castres at Thomond Park to ensure qualification for the knockout rounds, with an away draw in April’s Round of 16 now looking likely should they finish the pool on a winning note.

McMillan’s overriding emotions were of disappointment but pride in the character shown by his players to rally from 14-6 down after 44 minutes to come within five minutes of another famous day in France thanks to tries from Calvin Nash, O’Donoghue and Tom Farrell, with Crowley adding to his two first-half penalties with two of his three conversion attempts. A week on from a painful 28-3 URC loss at Ulster it was a much-improved performance for the Munster head coach to digest.

"We probably did a great job of working our way back into the game, and it's disappointing to lose it really.

"Yeah, really proud. I would have been disappointed if we didn't go down fighting or just fire a shot after last week. It was a massive disappointment from everyone in our camp. We know we're much better than that, and it was a lot better. We saw a lot better out there today and it's a tough place to come and play.

"I thought the attitude of the guys all week has been first class and as a result, we gave ourselves a chance, and that's all we can ask for. We probably left a few points out there in the first-half, but you've got to be good enough on these days to take those.” Aside from the defeat there were concerns for Ireland scrum-half Craig Casey who left the field in the second half with a shoulder injury. Munster also saw hooker Diarmuid Barron struck with a knee injury after half-time while both lock/flanker Tom Ahern and scrum-half Paddy Patterson were withdrawn from the replacements bench before kick-off.

“Tom Ahern got an injury to his neck in some lineouts,” McMillan said. “Diarmuid hurt his knee and then Craig Casey's got a shoulder which looks reasonably serious.

“Haven't had the full diagnosis but he's a bit of an Energizer bunny, so he's showing good form in there at the moment, but we'll get a scan. We'll have a good look and see what the impact as well.” Of Patterson, McMillan added: “He took a bang in the warm-up, you know, just ran into one of our big forwards. He's had a couple of bangs to the head, and he didn't feel well.” Losing both Casey and Patterson would leave Munster with just one fit senior scrum-half, Ethan Coughlan, who stepped onto the replacements having travelled to Toulon as a non-playing reserve. If that was the case, academy number nine Jake O’Riordan could be in line for a European debut in Limerick next Saturday having made two senior appearances off the bench this season, against Connacht and Argentina XV.