MUNSTER SKILLS COACH Mossy Lawler said they have moved on from the refereeing blunder which erroneously reduced them to 14 men for almost 14 minutes of their URC home loss to the Bulls and that their sole focus at this stage is on getting a result in Cardiff next Friday.
Lawler said Munster interim head coach Ian Costello and Tappe Henning, the head of referees with the URC, had discussed the controversy and that there was an admission that an error had been made.
Lawler, speaking at Munster’s weekly media briefing on Monday afternoon, reiterated Costello’s post-match comments that the error did not cost them the game and that they need to concentrate fully on the job they need to do in Cardiff next Friday to maintain their push to ensure they secure a qualification spot and Champions Cup rugby next season.
“Ian has had conversations with Tappe and I suppose the easiest way of putting it is that the officials made a mistake. I’m not going into the details of the conversation. They’ve admitted they’ve made a mistake and we left it at that.
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“We chased the decision but we’re certainly not focusing on that. It’s not the reason we lost the game or we’re certainly not putting it down to that.
“Our view is that we’re looking forward to Cardiff and not looking back,” said Lawler.
Meanwhile, Oli Jager, whose opening half head injury led to the controversy when his tighthead replacement Stephen Archer had to go off with a shoulder injury after 52 minutes, has been ruled out of the trip to Cardiff as he goes through the return to play protocols.
Archer remains doubtful with the shoulder injury with John Ryan set to come into the equation.
Craig Casey (illness) and Peter O’Mahony (hamstring), both of whom were late withdrawals before the Bulls game, are hoping to be available. Casey has returned to training and former skipper O’Mahony will be monitored as the week progresses.
Back rower Gavin Coombes and winger CalVin Nash, who both missed the Bulls game with ankle issues, are back in training while decisions will be taken on back rower John Hodnett (toe) and hooker Diarmuid Barron (shoulder/arm) as the week progresses.
“We’re in a situation now where we’re fighting for our top eight,” added Lawler.
They are seventh on 40 points with three games remaining but only six points separate Benetton in fifth (41 points) and Connacht in twelveth (35 points). Cardiff are sixth on 41 points.
“We’re seventh in the table, we’ve three games left and two of them are at home. So from our point of view, it’s what we can control. If we win our games, we stay in the top eight, so that solely has been our focus,” he said.
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Lawler says Munster have parked referee controversy as they focus on URC qualification
MUNSTER SKILLS COACH Mossy Lawler said they have moved on from the refereeing blunder which erroneously reduced them to 14 men for almost 14 minutes of their URC home loss to the Bulls and that their sole focus at this stage is on getting a result in Cardiff next Friday.
Lawler said Munster interim head coach Ian Costello and Tappe Henning, the head of referees with the URC, had discussed the controversy and that there was an admission that an error had been made.
Lawler, speaking at Munster’s weekly media briefing on Monday afternoon, reiterated Costello’s post-match comments that the error did not cost them the game and that they need to concentrate fully on the job they need to do in Cardiff next Friday to maintain their push to ensure they secure a qualification spot and Champions Cup rugby next season.
“Ian has had conversations with Tappe and I suppose the easiest way of putting it is that the officials made a mistake. I’m not going into the details of the conversation. They’ve admitted they’ve made a mistake and we left it at that.
“We chased the decision but we’re certainly not focusing on that. It’s not the reason we lost the game or we’re certainly not putting it down to that.
“Our view is that we’re looking forward to Cardiff and not looking back,” said Lawler.
Meanwhile, Oli Jager, whose opening half head injury led to the controversy when his tighthead replacement Stephen Archer had to go off with a shoulder injury after 52 minutes, has been ruled out of the trip to Cardiff as he goes through the return to play protocols.
Archer remains doubtful with the shoulder injury with John Ryan set to come into the equation.
Craig Casey (illness) and Peter O’Mahony (hamstring), both of whom were late withdrawals before the Bulls game, are hoping to be available. Casey has returned to training and former skipper O’Mahony will be monitored as the week progresses.
Back rower Gavin Coombes and winger CalVin Nash, who both missed the Bulls game with ankle issues, are back in training while decisions will be taken on back rower John Hodnett (toe) and hooker Diarmuid Barron (shoulder/arm) as the week progresses.
“We’re in a situation now where we’re fighting for our top eight,” added Lawler.
They are seventh on 40 points with three games remaining but only six points separate Benetton in fifth (41 points) and Connacht in twelveth (35 points). Cardiff are sixth on 41 points.
“We’re seventh in the table, we’ve three games left and two of them are at home. So from our point of view, it’s what we can control. If we win our games, we stay in the top eight, so that solely has been our focus,” he said.
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