Geordan Murphy questions Will Spencer red card

Leicester interim head coach Geordan Murphy questioned the referee’s decision to give Will Spencer a red card in Sunday’s defeat to Wasps.

Spencer was sent off in the 40th minute of the 41-35 defeat at the Ricoh Arena, slightly marring an otherwise enthralling encounter.

And Murphy, overseeing just his second game in charge, said the decision to send Spencer off for a high tackle on Tommy Taylor was ‘disappointing to say the least’.

“I don’t think it was a red card,” the head coach said. “Will is 6ft 10ins tall, he’s tackling a shorter guy who’s actually falling over, pulling out of a tackle.

“It’s a very difficult one, but if Tommy Taylor was standing up tall, Will was probably going to hit him around the nipple line, which is just an absolutely perfect tackle.

“That’s the way it is, so it’s disappointing to say the least. We did some really good things in the second half. We probably fed them too much in the first half and gifted them 19 points.

“I thought we controlled long stages of the game much better in the second half.”