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'The referee didn't have any choice' - Munster react to added time red card
Munster head coach Johann van Graan insisted he was just happy to come away with a win against champions Saracens in their hard-fought Champions Cup Pool 4 fixture at Thomond Park.
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Saracens, minus the likes of England stars Owen Farrell and the Vunipola brothers, Billy and Mako, picked up a losing bonus point in the 10-3 defeat in difficult conditions. The sides play the return fixture at Allianz Park next Saturday.
Second-placed Munster, who scored the only try through captain Peter O’Mahony in the 30th minute, trail Pool 4 pacesetters Racing 92 by a point and enjoy a five-point advantage over third-placed Sarries ahead of that return game. Scrum-half Ben Spencer landed one of his three penalty attempts for the visitors.
Afterwards van Graan, asked if he was disappointed that Saracens had managed to take a losing bonus point from the game, said: “We will take a win against Saracens any day of the week. Right from the start we knew this pool was going to be tight.
“From our point of view we are still unbeaten in the group. An away win with a bonus point over the Ospreys, a home win against Saracens and a draw against Racing, so it is going to go right down to the wire.
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“The only thing we can control is next week against Saracens again in London. I am very glad about the win, very tough conditions in that last 50 minutes of the game.”
Munster lost replacement back rower Arno Botha to a late red card for leading with a forearm into Saracens’ Nick Tompkins.
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Van Graan said of the incident: “I will have to go and have a look at it again. Initial thoughts, the referee didn’t have any choice. Look, it happens so quickly, it was literally instinct.
“It was actually such a great carry and unfortunately if his forearm made contact with the head the referee doesn’t have any decision to award a red card. Obviously he feels bad about it, it happens in a split second and we will just have to look at it.”
Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall said his feelings on the low-scoring encounter were mixed, admitting: “A mix of being very pleased with a lot of things, the effort, the togetherness we showed, the ability to bounce back from a number of things that went wrong in the game, that was really good.
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“A bit of frustration because having got ourselves into a situation where we had the elements in the second half and only a seven-point deficit, it is probably something we will look back on and be frustrated that we could not have done better in the second half.”
"I very much hope we do but we may never see his like again as money continues to play an increasingly more prominent role in the game and spending so long at one club becomes less and less common."https://t.co/QpODpaqJ30
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 7, 2019
McCall felt the losing bonus point keeps the title holders in the mix for qualification from the group, despite suffering their second away defeat of the pool stages.
“It is probably out of our hands to a degree. We need to win next week. We do know Munster have a tough game away to Racing in round five. There is definitely hope, but next week is huge for us and we’ve got to win next week.”
– Press Association
WATCH: RugbyPass goes behind the scenes in Going Pro, a documentary on how Saracens women defended their 2018/19 Tyrrells Premier 15s title
Comments on RugbyPass
Will rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
2 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
2 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
3 Go to comments