1
Two scrumhalves face Connacht exit as NZ halfback Milo-Harris lined up
2
{{item.n}}
'It's incredible the amount of chat from Irish players across the board'
By Josh Raisey
Former Ireland hooker Bernard Jackman feels there has been a “reaction” from referees in the way they are treated by Irish players in matches, which he believes “will be really worrying” for head coach Andy Farrell.
It has been a growing concern for Leinster in recent seasons that their captains have failed to ingratiate themselves with referees in matches, and while Jackman feels captains in Ireland are “overdoing it,” he feels this is an issue “across the board”.
Speaking on the RTÉ Rugby podcast this week, the pundit was responding to an incident in Connacht’s loss to Leinster at the weekend, where Bundee Aki was penalised by referee Eoghan Cross for questioning his call, having already been warned.
VIDEO
But Jackman said that now in every ruck “there are four or five Irish players in a provincial jersey shouting and telling the referee what to do.”
With referees growing increasingly wise to this, Jackman feels this will be a concern for head coach Farrell ahead of their Guinness Six Nations campaign, which begins against France on Thursday, February 5.
“What will be really worrying for Farrell,” Jackman said. “It seems, within the refereeing fraternity that there’s been a reaction to the amount of chat from the Irish players – when you’re commentating on games you have a clearer audio of the ref mic than the TV viewer – it’s incredible, across the board.
“I also think we’re overdoing it captaincy-wise, in terms of pressurising referees to look at things. It’s non-stop. In the background, every ruck, there are four or five Irish players in a provincial jersey shouting and telling the referee what to do.
“Even the one at the weekend for Connacht, Eoghan Cross, the referee, he warned Jack Carty and Bundee and you could hear from his tone and you could see from his body language that he was on the edge of saying ‘enough’s enough,’ he’s warned them. A couple of plays later, he has to penalise Bundee for questioning his decision, when in actual fact the decision that Bundee was questioning was the right decision from the referee, Bundee was wrong.
“If Farrell wants to be able to show clips and give examples of this costing teams and Irish players overstepping the mark, he has an abundance of them over the last four weeks.”
News, stats, live rugby and more! Download the new RugbyPass app on the App Store (iOS) and Google Play (Android) now!
Whether you’re looking for somewhere to track upcoming fixtures, a place to watch live rugby or an app that shows you all of the latest news and analysis, the RugbyPass rugby app is perfect.
