Connacht v Leinster 04/01/14

I don't know what went on between Clancy and the TMO but they manufactured it well to keep Heaslip from getting a card.

I saw this on TV and the it was the TMO both times who bottled it. Clancy said he didn't see Healsip and asked if it was a cardable offence and the TMO said no just a penalty and a talking to. The same thing with the try on slow motion you clearly see the hands go forward which is the obvious case for a forward pass but the TMO said it was 'inconclusive' and terefore a try should be awarded. I thought Clancy had a good game but Jude Quinn the TMO shouldn't be allowed ref a U12's he was so bad last night.

As for Leinster they did have a 7. Dominic Ryan on the bench whom they brought on around 60 mins for Ruddock with Jordi Murphy switching to 6. As for White I think Lam wanted Dave on for his line-breaking abilities around the same time he brought on Buckley and Heffernan who are all very zippy around the park.

As for Parks I think Lam's though process was it started bucketing around the 60 min mark so in a deluge game Parks would be the king unfortunately it turned out to be a shower. Leader took a knock and had to come off but I don't think it was anything serious.

I heard an interview with Lam who said that Leader and Carty had developed cramp which was why they were called ashore.

I can't add anything further to the Heaslip or forward pass issues. But what did annoy me was Leinster's put ins. Both Reddan and. Boss realise Cronin can't hook, and at least 4 put ins were reminiscent of last year where SH put in to props feet or worse. Has this rule been forgotten. Clancy could not have missed it. maybe we did the same...funny I didn't notice that.

Not much to add here except to say I thought Carty and Leader did exceptionally well and also Muldoon, he's been in great form lately. I see no point in even having Parks on the bench when Ronaldson returns from injury. I'd be looking at a coaching role for him next season. He was poor again when he came on. It really is very worrying how many games we've failed to score in the second half this season (not blaming Parks specifically for that).

I always wait around until the teams have left the pitch and Clancy and Heaslip were definitely both booed off. It's also not the first time this season a ref has been booed off, if we didn't already have a reputation for this we surely do now.

I am slow to blame refs in general because I think we do it too often, but in this case I think we have every right to feel aggrieved. Both decisions were very poor, but my main beef was with the failure to bin Heaslip for what was a blatant late and dangerous hit. Being at the game, I couldn’t hear what was said by the TMO, but I could tell as Clancy walked towards Heaslip that it was just going to be a penalty. I couldn’t believe my eyes then as they walked along together, and Clancy gave Heaslip a little pat on the arse, as if to say “don’t worry about it Jamie, I’ve got your back”. That might seem paranoid, and maybe it is, but I’m sure if the exact same scenario played out in the RDS with a Connacht back row taking out their 10, it would be an immediate yellow without even consulting the TMO.

One other note about Saturday night. I hung around the Clan bar for a drink, and the Leinster players began to wander past, towards their bus which was parked on College Road. There was a bunch of kids mainly looking for autographs, and the players all seemed happy to stop and sign them. Then BOD came out, surrounded by security/stewards. “Pictures while I walk, pictures while I walk” he says. In fairness to him, only a handful of people approached the other players, and there was a bigger crowd around him, but it would have taken 5 or 10 minutes to sign a few young lads match programs. Poor form I thought. On the other hand, Rob Kearney was also in big demand, and he was much more willing to oblige. Maybe BOD was just in a mood having been outplayed by Robbie!

I hate seeing fans of losing sides I support blame the ref, nevermind booing him, but in this instance I think it is justified. Clancy was a chicken on the night and we deserve better. As for booing Heaslip, I don't see the point in that. He exploited a weak ref and dragged his side to a win. This was supposed to be a game to be won by the allstars in the Leinster backline. When (Darcy aside) they failed to do anything it was up to their pack to grind out the win. Will the same folks boo Heaslip if he gets away with doing that to Owen Farrell in a few weeks?

Creedence wrote: Will the same folks boo Heaslip if he gets away with doing that to Owen Farrell in a few weeks?

I expect they would because he'd get a yellow card straight away if he did that in a test match.

In sport when you are playing well and the score is tight the adrenaline and the little things that are in the back of your mind tend to keep the positive notes going.
Then there is a blatant knock on in the scrum Leinster go forward a couple of yards get a penalty and suddenly against the odds are 9-8 in front, and this is after a blatant yellow card offence. Suddenly things are going against you and your mind thoughts start to change as now you are wondering about those little 50 50 calls are going to go against you.
Then we bring someone on who no longer has the mental aptitude to control a game without kicking the ball away and the head has to start thinking again about how do i play the game now.
Leinster were not a better team and there were times in the set pieces that showed that Connacht can play and take on anybody. Then the nail in the coffin the forward pass that even the commentators were astounded with the answer. It is not conclusive, the TMO said, hold on it was forward or not, How do you get not conclusive in a pass.
It is good to see that Connacht are ready to give the youth from the Academy a chance. And this is what they should do. If you want to play the expansive game then you need these kids who have the ball skills and youthful zest to achieve these goals.

Like others I've grown tired of posters commenting on poor reffing after every game, it's like complaining about the weather at this stage, but fully agree that Clancy and crew dropped the ball on the two biggest calls. It just feeds into the perceived bias that Connacht is hard done by the refs during every interpro. This was especially the case with the try. Clancy seemed to have a very strong suspicion himself that the pass was forward, but instead of waving it off himself went up to the TMO. Not sure what angle the TMO was looking at, but every replay I saw pretty clearly showed Gopperth's pass going forward to D'Arcy.

Considering Connacht didn't score a point in the second half they probably didn't deserve anything better than a LBP, but the thing that helps put teams in the top half of the table is winning games their play dictates they have no business winning. Heaslip not seeing yellow and counting D'Arcy's try insured that wasn't going to be the case for Connacht.

Watching the Leiceser/Bath game, a very very similar incident to Darcy's try happened. Again, it was referred to the TMO with the same wording from the on-field referee (implying a new refereeing directive) and the TMO gave the same decision as in Galway.

Either the refereeing organizations are getting extremely consistent, or they are all equally terrible!

whiffofcordite.com/2014/01/06/clear-and-obvious/

WOC did a blog about this issue today, seems like it might be a new directive and it came about at exactly the wrong moment for us. Really unfortunate but at least Clancy didn't come up with the phrase on his own I was raging when I heard him use those words. There are probably plenty of others out there that heard him say it, felt hard done by and thought the ref was doing everything they could to give the game to Leinster, but then this week didn't read this forum or the above blog and realise it wasn't actually his fault. Its one of those things that feeds into the idea of an anti-Connacht bias as Rogue said.

phatguerilla wrote: whiffofcordite.com/2014/01/06/clear-and-obvious/

WOC did a blog about this issue today, seems like it might be a new directive and it came about at exactly the wrong moment for us. Really unfortunate but at least Clancy didn't come up with the phrase on his own I was raging when I heard him use those words. There are probably plenty of others out there that heard him say it, felt hard done by and thought the ref was doing everything they could to give the game to Leinster, but then this week didn't read this forum or the above blog and realise it wasn't actually his fault. Its one of those things that feeds into the idea of an anti-Connacht bias as Rogue said.

It would seem that the benefit of the doubt is going with the attacking team. As fans this should be seen as a positive, generally speaking. But as fans of the team with an awful attacking record the chances of us getting the same rub of the green are slim.

up to us to fix that.

Rolland used the phrase clear and obvious twice in the ulster v Munster game Friday also