Joseph backs referee Munro

Man in the middle: Munro

Wellington coach Jamie Joseph has called on Air New Zealand Cup Final referee Vinnie Munro not to side with Canterbury this Saturday.

The competition's top two sides of 2009 will go toe-to-toe in Christchurch this weekend following an impressive season from all fourteen involved.

Yet Joseph has decided to speak out ahead of the meeting by saying that their rivals seem to be favoured when it comes to tough dilemmas.

"I've found that they always have the 50-50 decisions go their way," he said, speaking to sportal.co.nz.

"Certainly in the final last year there were a lot of marginal calls with Richie [McCaw] but he's a professional and probably the best in the world at doing it.

"That's always an area of contention and what teams seek in that area is just consistency.

"If the ref is seeing something, as long as he is consistent with both sides, it should be fine."

Joseph's decision to bring up refereeing is largely down to his notion that the Lions' pack were unfairly held back at scrum-time by official Chris Pollock during last week's 34-21 semi-final victory over Southland.

Adding to that assessment, the boss went to hope that Munro will follow Keith Brown's August lead when Canterbury gained the upper hand at the set-piece.

"Keith Brown gave them that advantage which they deserved because they clearly had the better scrum," he explained, before hinting he may even speak to Munro before Saturday's showpiece.

"Yet in the same position we found ourselves in on Saturday we got penalised three times.

"I can only hope that the same leeway is given to us if we are able to have dominance at scrum time.

"If I have a concern we will bring it up with the referee. Vinnie is a good referee. We've had him before this year and he's been given the game because he is probably the form ref. I've got full confidence in his ability.

"I just hope that if we have dominance in any parts of the game, that we're given that advantage."