Post their 33-10 drubbing at the hands of Munster in Thomond Park last Saturday, Leicester Tigers head coach Matt O'Connor continues to bang the drum at what he perceived to be questionable refereeing and cynical Munster play at the breakdown.
On top of that, the former Leinster coach accused French referee Jerome Garces for failing to punish Andrew Conway for his accidental collision with Tigers' full-back Telusa Veainu, - a collision resulted in the Tongan sustaining a broken jaw, while Conway himself suffered a concussion in the clash.
O'Connor was giving his views from last weekend's match in his weekly column for the Leicester Mercury,
My view is that the laws of the game are the laws of the game. There should be no room for interpretation from any official. Or any need for teams to adapt to the way a game is being refereed in the technical parts of the game.
Not rolling away is not rolling away.
Not releasing the tackled ball carrier is not releasing the tackled ball carrier.
Putting your hands in front of the ball at the breakdown is putting your hands in front of the ball at the breakdown.
They are laws. They can’t be adapted every week by different officials.
Of course, there are certain nuances between the ways certain referees go about their business, but some things are non-negotiable around the breakdown because it is such a crucial part of the game. And both not rolling away and releasing the tackled player are two of the most important non-negotiables.
Although the Tigers head coach may have a point, it sounds like sour grapes. Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt prepares a video for each on how the referee will officiate their game, informing them of areas to exploit and areas to which he will penalise.
It beggars belief that a head coach in O'Connor's position is unwilling to modify his game plan as to the match day referee. He continued:
Afterwards, I sent a dozen or so video clips to the head of referees asking for clarification on some of the things that we found frustrating.
Head coaches sending video clips to referee HQ is hardly a new phenomenon, Schmidt and his backroom staff prepare a report of the referee's performance after each game but for it to feature a "a dozen or so clips," would be highly unusual.
Munster travel to Welford Road on Sunday where a victory for the hosts is imperative to keep their European campaign alive, while a win for the visitors will put them in poll position to top Pool 4.
Read Matt O'Connor's column in full here.
