George Hook writes in the Irish Independent that refereeing in the Heineken Cup is ‘reaching crisis point’ and Munster’s must take responsibility for their ill-discipline.
"Munster face a difficult task in qualifying for the knockout stages of the Heineken Cup after a defeat by Ospreys yesterday. With Toulon winning over the London Irish, the trip away for Munster will rank with any in their long and distinguished history. In the past, the possibility of an away win was real but this time the side does not appear to have the armoury up front to take on teams with serious intent.
The most dominant figure in the game was referee Romain Poite. He allowed everything and exerted little or no control. The result was a match of fits and starts that delivered little or no continuity. Refereeing is now reaching crisis point in the Heineken Cup. The Ulster game in Bath was dreadfully refereed and it got worse in the Liberty Stadium in Swansea.
The second most noticeable figure for all the wrong reasons was Tony Buckley whose performance yesterday must surely end his pretence at being an international prop forward. The Munster scrum was awful and improved not a whit with the arrival of John Hayes. However, Hayes is at the end of a career whereas Buckley continues to make a mockery of Declan Kidney's rejection of Mike Ross.
This week has seen Munster's one-eyed reaction at its worst. Ex-players were rolled out on the media to extol the virtues of Paul O'Connell and the dastardly actions of Jonathan Thomas who pulled his shirt. Listening to former international Mick Galway this week, one expected Benedict XVI to come to Limerick to canonise the Young Munster lock. Galwey went further to suggest that the Munster scrum had been outstanding this week. Frankie Sheehan even went so far as to suggest that the Welshman should have been punished rather than the Irishman."
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