Leicester director of rugby Richard Cockerill admits he was surprised at the penalty try that went against his side at Stadio di Monigo on Saturday.
Irish referee Alain Rolland awarded Treviso the decision on 30 minutes when a first-phase driving maul was collapsed ten metres from the line.
"I felt the referee was against us a fair bit. I doubt I will ever see a more bizarre penalty try against us," Cockerill told the Leicester Mercury.
"I was just amazed. I have been playing the game for 30 years and coaching for 10 years and I have never seen anything like it in my whole life.
"If that (try) had been given for us, I would have sat there in embarrassment.
"It's all down to interpretations but what about the series of scrums at the end where we have to have several scrums to get our reward?"
Cockerill's last comment referred to pressure on Treviso's line that ultimately resulted in a penalty try for Leicester, which won the game and kept their hopes of topping Pool 2 alive.
Comments
Chubbylugs says...
You can't guarantee any maul will go 10 metres regardless if there is momentum. If anything, momentum would probably mean it ends up on the floor quickly. Didn't see it, but it certainly sounds an odd decision
However Tigers have had their fair share of good fortune from refs, so it's swings and roundabouts really. It's just polarised because they are average at the moment
Posted 17:48 18th December 2012
jamesliveinhope says...
@nabberuk and @carpelone I'm not defending Rolland - he's had a shockingly inconsistent couple of games in the last year.
I'm just saying that you can't compare the approach to two different penalty tries.
Posted 15:02 18th December 2012
carpelone says...
nabberuk
Just read and learn from jameslivesinhope.
Posted 12:02 18th December 2012
nabberuk says...
@jamesliveinhope
I think it was around 15m out. I don't think it should of been a penalty try. Yellow and a penalty would of been fine. I do find it funny though that a treviso player came in at the side just before the Leciester player joined.
I think they gave away 3 or 4 penalties on there own line (not just scrums) so i can see why he gave the penalty try. The first penalty they wouldn't release the tackled player (this was a meter out) so to be honest i think that deserved a yellow.
Posted 10:49 18th December 2012
jamesliveinhope says...
I didn't see the game so can't really comment on the incidents (any video links would be nice.
BUT, you cannot compare scrum penalties to the bringing down of a maul.
Law 10 relates to the sanctions for deliberate foul play (my interpretation, the professional foul) and says "A penalty try must be awarded if the offence prevents a try that would probably otherwise have been scored. A player who prevents a try being scored through foul play must either be cautioned and temporarily suspended or sent off."
That's interesting in itself, was anyone carded?
So, in the ref's judgement, Leicester's collapse of the maul prevented a probable try. - Difficult one to argue against because, ultimately you would have to prove that the try would probably not have been scored.
Scrums are different because penalties conceded are typically not deliberate but a result of pressure. Can't find a law on this so assume that there is an IRB ref directive and assume that it relates to persistent offending preventing a probable try.
So basically, I would expect a scrum to need several goes before a penalty try is needed but a collapsed maul should go straight away. 10 metres (assuming that it is not being viewed using a "my team measure") does seem a long way out for the try to be a probability.
Posted 08:46 18th December 2012
damo says...
Im Irish, worst ref ever!!!!!!
Posted 07:35 18th December 2012
nabberuk says...
@Carpelone
So your first comment was about whinging, then in your second comment all you do is whinge.....
Posted 21:25 17th December 2012
carpelone says...
Hang on a moment. Was the same Alain Rolland who did not give a penalty try against New Zealand (namely Kieran Read) for illegally collapsing a Boks' rolling maul three meters away the try line.
That was much more evident than the two given on Saturday altogether.
As JP McEnroe would have said, You can not be serious.
Posted 17:48 17th December 2012
ArmchairGeneral says...
Silly me. I opened this article hoping he might be saying it about the try Leicester got. That would be refreshing.
Posted 14:53 17th December 2012
carpelone says...
Whinging winner. Ungracious. What about the two yellow cards shown to Treviso?
Leicester would have never won this otherwise.
Treviso's defence was immense and left Leiceter frustrated on many occasion. Full stop. Leicester had to open fully the trick box to win this game.
Not that was undeserved, but it could have gone either way.
Posted 13:30 17th December 2012