Leicester Tigers have lodged a formal complaint with ERC about the period of play in which the Ospreys had an extra man on the field.
While Lee Byrne was off the field receiving treatment on his ankle, Sonny Parker made up the numbers, but when Byrne was fit again, he rejoined the action before Parker was withdrawn.
There probably wouldn’t be much to complain about, but it just so happened that these events coincided with one of Leicester’s most promising attacks, and it was Lee Byrne who was the last defender as Ben Youngs raced away.
The Ospreys will probably get a fine, but it’s too little too late for the Tigers. Should referee Alan Lewis have awarded a penalty? Or a penalty try perhaps?
What do you think will happen now? A replay would probably be the only consolation for the Tigers, but this seems pretty unlikely. I don’t actually think that Leicester deserved to win anyway, but their fans might be feeling differently!
We are in a pickle, again.
I am a Tigers fan and don’t think we deserve to go through, it would be unfair on the Ospreys, the better team if we did.
Saying that, this is more than a technicality and the fact that the ref didn’t do anything on the day has made the IRB or whoever’s job very difficult. The easiest thing would have been to award the Tigers a penalty on the spot, maybe even a penalty try. The ref didn’t and we can’t let this sort of thing go unpunished.
I don’t see this as cold-blooded cheating, like bloodagte was, it was a mistake, an honest mistake.
But imagine if the Ospreys had scored a try with 16 men on the field, would that try have stood, I doubt it. The Tigers deserved at least 3 points for their troubles, lee byrne did take part in the play (he tackled Youngs). It has to be a penalty.
I don’t know what to do now, maybe a player suspension from the next game woukld be sufficient, I don’t like fines as the money the Ospreys won on progressing means a fine will not have much affect on the club.
Once again the referee’s indecision on the field has led to problems off it, I would like to say one general thing about refereeing in rugby. I like the communication that exists between the ref and the players. But as with killing the ball there has to be more penalties/yellow cards faster. Refs give a “talking to” when players collaps scrums, infringe on the floor, obstruct play, play with 16 men in defence. These are punishable offences first time not second or third time, referees need to be tuffer more decisive and clean up the game of negative play.
The IRB want to get tuff on gouging and incedents that affect the image of the game. I would like it if they got tuff on guys who killed the ball. Yellow card immediately and if the same player gets two yellow cards in seperate games for the same offence give him and added 2 game suspension. This sort of thing affects the image of the game as well.
Once again the Ospreys deserve to go through, I have no idea no idea what to do about the 16 man incident. The last paragraphs on refereeing has nothing to do with the Ospreys superior rooking, they were magnificent in that department, these are just general comments about the state of play.
I tend to agree. I wouldnt want to have to make a decision on this one…now that the game is over the opportunity to really punish the ospreys has been missed.
However i don’t want to blame the ref because its such an unusual situation.
I think it will just go down as one of those things because you cant really do anything about it now.
It won’t be replayed, not a hope. Mistakes do happen even when they shouldn’t and yesterday there were 2 mistakes. Firstly not taking a player off, understandable mistake to make which could have happened for any number of reasons. The second mistake however which is unforgivable from a top class referee (who I thinked reffed the game well other than this one incident) was not awarding a penalty. He knows the laws and should therefore know that a penalty should have been awarded. There would have been a kick to the corner and a possible catch and drive.
But that is that, nothing much will come of it.
Alan Lewis is, I think, a pretty decent referee, but he and his linesmen blew this one.
It will be strange not seeing the Tigers in the quarterfinals-Leicester is one of those teams like Munster and Toulouse who just always seem to be in the mix in the H-Cup.
The game will not be replayed and shouldn’t be but what about punishing the ref? this type of mistake has to be answered for.
Add ‘cheaters’ to the list of adjectives the arrogant ospreys are guilty of. Are you telling me that Byrne comes on and doesn’t realise that Parker hasn’t gone off?
The fact that Byrne, the 16th man, interfered with play and a promising Tigers attack is dodgy as hell. Never mind the extra 3 points Tigers would have gotten if the ref had known the laws. And I’m not even a Tigers fan.
The ERC take months to decide Quins fate, dragging that club through the mud the whole time, by releasing bits and pieces of information. Yet I’d put money on the Ospreys getting away with a ridiculously small fine, and the case being closed by Monday evening. Already it only took an hour or two for ERC to say the result stands.
And if the repercussions of having extra men on the pitch is a ludicrously lenient ‘penalty to the other side’, teams defending a five metre scrum on their own line should throw in a couple of extra players, and risk conceding 3 points. Better than conceding 7 points. The laws need changing.
I too am a Tigers fan, and agree with a lot of the comments above. We didn’t deserve to win on Saturday, and it only goes to show you’ve got to win your home games when in such a tight group, regardless of injuries.
Had we not drawn against Ospreys at home, and snuck that drop we were looking for in the dying seconds after a gritty comeback, I think we’d be very happy losing by just 5 in Swansea.
I think that’s the right sentiment. The Tigers were eliminated by losing in Clermont and drawing at home with the Ospreys – not by Lee Byrne tackling Ben Youngs in Round 6.