Connacht are getting bum deal from match officials

Inside Track with John McIntyre

Connacht may be having their best ever season of the professional era, but it’s still hard to avoid the impression that the rugby outpost in the West of Ireland is not getting a fair crack of the whip, especially from match officials as was obvious in their recent Guinness Pro12 encounters against Leinster and Scarlets respectively.

We are not suggesting that there is a deliberate agenda out there to frustrate Connacht’s progress, but they generally tend to end up on the wrong side of marginal calls. Pat Lam’s squad remain strongly in the mix in fourth position in the league table, yet only for controversial decisions in their two most Guinness Pro12 games, the minnows from the West would still be out front.

Connacht might have failed to score against Leinster in the RDS on New Year’s Day, but the outcome was still in the balance – the home team were holding onto a tenuous 3-nil lead – when they were awarded a try which defied the laws of certainty. The bottom line was that it was impossible to see whether Josh Van Der Flier had managed to ground the ball.

As the Leinster pack rumbled over the Connacht line, referee George Clancy lost his footing which made it even more difficult for him to adjudicate on the legitimacy of the score, but he still asked the TMO was ‘there any reason why he could not allow the try’. Countless replays from different angles offered no clear-cut evidence that the ball had been grounded, leaving a Leinster five metre scrum as the only plausible decision.

Incredibly, however, the TMO, who was admittedly compromised by the nature of Clancy’s question, didn’t bite the bullet and tell the referee he couldn’t award the try because there was no footage to indicate that Van Der Flier had actually touched down the ball. It was a shocking injustice and a real game-changer. Connacht may not have won the match in any event, but they were entitled to a losing bonus point.

They also got a bum deal from officials against Scarlets in their next outing. Connacht played some sparkling attacking rugby in the opening half, with pacey winger Matt Healy again catching the eye. Unfortunately, their dominance wasn’t reflected in a 10-3 interval advantage with the decision not to award the in-form Eoghan Masterson a deserved try when he pounced on a loose ball a scandalous ruling.

In the end, Connacht had to settle for a losing bonus point but they should have left Wales with four points in their satchels. The team was again screwed and had they got fair play against Leinster and the Scarlets, John Muldoon and company would still be leading the way in the Guinness Pro12. Their efforts deserved better.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.