Stephen Jones has no time for the protestations of Leicester following their Heineken Cup defeat to the Ospreys in The Times.
"Let us get one thing straight: in playing terms, Leicester Tigers do not deserve to be anywhere near the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup this season. Not only were they thrashed by a vastly superior Clermont team not so long ago, but they were decisively beaten by the Ospreys in Swansea last Saturday, and it was a defeat which could easily have become embarrassing if only the Ospreys had not become so anxious as the win beckoned.
"Now we have the situation where Leicester are effectively trying to get back into the competition in the courts. Lee Byrne's arrival for a grand total of around 55 seconds as the 16th man in the Ospreys ranks towards the end of the game means that Leicester are now urgently trying to have the match replayed.
"It is worth remembering the sequence of events, not so much of the Byrne return, which had a piffling impact on the action, but on Leicester's reaction to it. The first Tiger to go on the record regarding the incident was Richard Cockerill, the head coach. Soon after the game, Cockerill was honest enough to say that the better side had won and words to the effect that he would be unhappy if Leicester's progress in the competition was down to an honest mistake made by the Ospreys on the touchline."
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