Confirmation in a quote from Pat Lam www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/leinster-...ht-victory-1.1575363 that the referee in question was dropped down the levels and an apology was received.

connolly wrote:

RockSalt wrote: Who told you - I find it really hard to believe either of those statements could possibly be true.

If this referee was considered to be inadequate at this level I would expect him to be retrained, more closely supervised and monitored whilst refereeing lower grade matches. Whilst he might not be picked for any more games in the Pro12 until he was considered suitable, it would be an odd decision to announce he was 'banned' for a year.

I also find it hard to believe Connacht, alone, got a letter of 'apology'. If so, it's shocking. It's tantamount to saying this guy's a cheat.

This came from a member of the squad, they said the received a letter of apology and being told that he is banned from the rabo games

I suspect he was paraphrasing, REF's do not get banned from games unless they are corrupt and then it would be a blanket ban from al competitions under IRB auspices.

So if he refereed Pro2 France at the weekend just gone then he isn't banned at all. He will have been dropped form the Pro12 Ref's Panel, which is very different.

RockSalt wrote: Who told you - I find it really hard to believe either of those statements could possibly be true.

If this referee was considered to be inadequate at this level I would expect him to be retrained, more closely supervised and monitored whilst refereeing lower grade matches. Whilst he might not be picked for any more games in the Pro12 until he was considered suitable, it would be an odd decision to announce he was 'banned' for a year.

I also find it hard to believe Connacht, alone, got a letter of 'apology'. If so, it's shocking. It's tantamount to saying this guy's a cheat.

This came from a member of the squad, they said the received a letter of apology and being told that he is banned from the rabo games

We were full value for our penalty count. The Ospreys scrum was on a knot and there were a couple tackles of the ball as well. Ref gave them several warnings but bottled carding anyone.

I wonder is there any connection between this and the unusually favourable (for us) penalty count on Saturday? I didn't see the match so not sure how many of the penalties were soft/borderline (or indeed how many might have been awarded against us but weren't); does seem like a bit of a coincidence though. Probably nothing in it.

Still, it would be nice to think refs might be inclined to give us the benefit of the doubt for a while...

A quick google search shows he's now part of a referee exchange and reffed a ProD2 game this w/e. Few months there should make or break him.

Porterbelly wrote:

RockSalt wrote: Who told you - I find it really hard to believe either of those statements could possibly be true.

If this referee was considered to be inadequate at this level I would expect him to be retrained, more closely supervised and monitored whilst refereeing lower grade matches. Whilst he might not be picked for any more games in the Pro12 until he was considered suitable, it would be an odd decision to announce he was 'banned' for a year.

I also find it hard to believe Connacht, alone, got a letter of 'apology'. If so, it's shocking. It's tantamount to saying this guy's a cheat.

It's true, he has been sacked

I imagine that it's a little bit from column A and a little bit from column B. The ref will probably not ref a Pro12 match for a long while but he is still a ref, and can be back in Italy for a while learning the trade. Unless he is being labelled a cheat, in which case we should demand a replay.

RockSalt wrote: Who told you - I find it really hard to believe either of those statements could possibly be true.

If this referee was considered to be inadequate at this level I would expect him to be retrained, more closely supervised and monitored whilst refereeing lower grade matches. Whilst he might not be picked for any more games in the Pro12 until he was considered suitable, it would be an odd decision to announce he was 'banned' for a year.

I also find it hard to believe Connacht, alone, got a letter of 'apology'. If so, it's shocking. It's tantamount to saying this guy's a cheat.

It's true, he has been sacked

Who told you - I find it really hard to believe either of those statements could possibly be true.

If this referee was considered to be inadequate at this level I would expect him to be retrained, more closely supervised and monitored whilst refereeing lower grade matches. Whilst he might not be picked for any more games in the Pro12 until he was considered suitable, it would be an odd decision to announce he was 'banned' for a year.

I also find it hard to believe Connacht, alone, got a letter of 'apology'. If so, it's shocking. It's tantamount to saying this guy's a cheat.

swift4prez wrote: i was told that the ref for this game; Referee: Claudio Blessano (FIR, 4th competition game) has been banned for the year and that Connacht has received a letter (from whoever is incharge) saying sorry about the ref

Any chance of a replay on this basis?

i was told that the ref for this game; Referee: Claudio Blessano (FIR, 4th competition game) has been banned for the year and that Connacht has received a letter (from whoever is incharge) saying sorry about the ref

Ya it was a cheapshot on Swifty, had it been spotted by the officials it would have been a red.

I know its a different angle but both of us watching it live spotted it.

RaboDirectPro12 wrote:
DISCIPLINARY UPDATE – BRADLEY DAVIES
For immediate release:

Issued on behalf of RaboDirect PRO12

At a hearing in Scotland today, Bradley Davies of Cardiff Blues appeared before an independent RaboDirect PRO12 Disciplinary Committee comprised of John Kirk (Scotland, chair), Iain Goodall (Scotland) and Pamela Woodman (Scotland), having been cited for an infringement of Law 10.4(h) (A player must not charge into a ruck or maul. Charging includes any contact made without use of the arms, or without grasping a player.) in the match between Cardiff Blues and Connacht on 13 September 2013.

Pursuant to clause 9.8.1 of the RaboDirect PRO12 Disciplinary Rules, the Disciplinary Committee amended the offence with which the player was charged to an infringement of Law 10.4(a) (Punching or striking. A player must not strike an opponent with the fist or arm, including the elbow, shoulder, head or knee(s).), and found that the player had committed an act of foul play under that law. The Disciplinary Committee found that the act of foul play merited a low end entry point and, after applying aggravating and mitigating factors, imposed a sanction of two weeks.

The player will be free to play from 28 September 2013 and has a right of appeal.

Personally given his fairly recent display of hot headedness against Donncha Ryan in the 6N, would have though it merited a slightly longer ban. It was intentional and reckless..

Its a bit uncomfortable seeing the words Rodney and stabilise in the same sentence

I noticed this about the Italian Ref on the Ulster Rugby forum...

"Meanwhile Ulster coach Mark Anscombe has apologised to the RaboDirect PRO12 organisers for criticism of Italian referee Claudio Blessano following the NG Dragons v Ulster match at Rodney Parade on September 6."

apology not accepted after his performance reffing our last game.

connachtexile wrote: 3 lads were definitely there it cut to them celebrating the Healy try and one of them shouting 'We're the only one's here! Woo!'

p.s. Does anyone know if JHW is ok? I saw him indicating to the bench he needed to be taken off. I assume he just pulled something but thought I'd ask if he's alright.

Haha, that was us at the match that they showed after the try. Me in the centre and Brother & Dad either side. The brother shouted that we're the only ones here - but I'm pretty sure he said Mooo, not Woo! (do ya like that Connacht Cows!).

I travelled to the one we won last year and said I’d have to make it back again this year so the Bro & old man came too. Afterwards, I met a guy from Tuam that lived close to Cardiff and he said that he saw 2 others behind him in the stand so there were at least 6 of us there, but I’d say that was about it.

Conditions were fierce! Not too much wind but very wet. Don’t know how it looked on the TV but can’t blame handling errors too much. Our kicking was poor and some of the decision making whether to kick or run from the counter was very poor. I think we gave away far too many kickable penalties to say that we left the win after us but definitely left at least the bonus point. I’d love to blame the ref, and even Cardiff fans were even saying that he was a terrible ref (when it suited them), but we were obviously doing something he didn’t like in the scrums & breakdown and should have adapted our play. On a positive note, some of our open play was quite good and if we were able to keep ball in hand or stop infringing, we would have threatened their line a lot more or forced them to foul. Our defence was very good at times but it really wasn’t a good Cardiff team. If conditions were better, I think we would have won, despite the sh!tty ref.

Gotta say, the Cardiff fans were great again. Loads thanked us for a good game and for coming to the match. We were in a pub later and a Cardiff fan that was at the match, came up to us and invited us over to have a drink with him and a few other lads who were there. Had a great chat about how the old regions became the Blues, Ospreys etc etc, & how the Celtic Warriers went bust and broke up even though they were the best region at the time and that now 4 teams were probably too many for what they could afford and keep competitive. We talked about the battle with the IRFU a few years ago, marches and all that, but then I got a little annoyed when they kept saying they were weary of central contracts and risk one of the 4 becoming a Connacht type club. Good thing I wasn’t drinking or else he’d have gotten a Connacht type haymaker in the jaw!!