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'By the letter of the law it is a penalty' - Murray backs Munster's Tadhg Beirne over Murrayfield theatrics
Conor Murray had played down the controversial incident that had a major influence in sweeping Munster into this month’s Champions Cup semi-finals against Saracens.
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The Irish province were losing to Edinburgh in last Saturday’s quarter-final at Murrayfield when Tadhg Beirne theatrically threw himself to the floor in an abrupt manner following a shoulder from Pierre Schoeman.
It led to referee Pascal Gauzerre reversing a penalty decision and this fortuitous possession and territory enabled Munster to go on and score a try from Keith Earls to ultimately win the game 17-13.
Beirne’s penalty-winning antics were later criticised by numerous ex-players, including the legendary Brian O’Driscoll, but Murray doesn’t believe the second row did anything wrong and claimed he was rightly given a favourable decision by the French referee.
Asked by RugbyPass if Beirne had been on the receiving end of any teasing at Munster training in Limerick this week, the scrum-half replied: “A small bit, a small bit.”
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— Pinergy (@Pinergy) April 3, 2019
Joking aside, though, Murray backed his man over what happened in Scotland. “You are going to have to ask Tadhg how badly he was hurt because only he knows that. I think I saw the replay of it a couple of days later. At the time I didn’t really see it, I was just thankful that the penalty was reversed.
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“But I saw it in slow motion and it doesn’t look like much, but then if you play it in real time live it is clearly a penalty because Schoeman eyes him up from about 10 metres away and does give him more than an elbow,” said the Pinergy ambassador.
“It’s probably more a full arm, a little of a shoulder and he definitely obstructs his path. By the letter of the law it is a penalty. Whatever was made of it after is what was made, but thankfully for us it was reversed and rightly so. We got to go down the pitch and eventually score a try.”
Munster have done it! ?
They're into the semi-finals for the FOURTEENTH time! ?
Sensational from the Red Army! ? pic.twitter.com/itj3qwRz9H
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) March 30, 2019
Comments on RugbyPass
Big empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
34 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
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