Munster beaten on controversial call

By Mark Jones

Stade Francais 16, Munster 15

DUBLIN — Dreams shouldn’t die like this. Munster were on the verge of qualifying for yet another European Rugby Cup final when they had to suffer the heartbreak of having a match-winning try disallowed in Lille, France, last weekend.

The try, which was scored by wing John O’Neill during a marvelous Munster second-half comeback, was ruled out by match officials despite the galling fact that repeated TV replays clearly showed that O’Neill had made the touchdown before the ball went out of play. Incredibly, for a match of such significance, there was no recourse to video evidence, which is only used in the Six Nations championship and not in the European Cup, and Stade Francais were able to ride their luck and qualify for the final.

"They scored a try and we didn’t," explained a remarkably magnanimous Munster captain, Mick Galwey. "But you’d expect there to be a video replay when you get to this stage of the competition. John O’Neill said it was a try and we’d take his word more than anyone else. I suppose that’s the luck of the draw: sometimes those decisions go with you and more times they don’t.

Robbery might be too strong a word for it, but you felt that if O’Neill had been awarded the try, Munster would surely have had enough momentum to carry them through to victory. The key moment in what was a mistake-ridden contest played on a heavy surface came 12 minutes into the second half. Trailing by 16-6 at the interval, the Irish province had started to dominate proceedings when scrum-half Peter Stringer lofted a clever kick behind the Stade Francais defense. The impressive O’Neill, who had only come in as a late replacement for the injured John Kelly, set off in pursuit, outpaced the cover, grabbed the bouncing ball and dived over in the corner.

English referee Chris White said afterward that he wasn’t sure if O’Neill had grounded the ball before it the touch in goal line. White was guided by touch judge, Steve Lander, who was only a couple of feet away, but despite the fact that TV replays and many newspaper pictures later showed the score to be perfectly good, Lander advised White to disallow it.

Munster’s coach, Declan Kidney, was surprisingly diplomatic about the incident, refusing to be drawn into a debate over the competency of the officials. Kidney seemed more perturbed by Munster’s 12-week wait between the quarterfinal and semifinal, which was due to a combination of the European Cup’s ludicrous schedule and the foot-and-mouth crisis.

"It’s very difficult now when you know how hard the players have worked," Kidney said. "We tried over the past few weeks not to crib and complain."

Meanwhile, Stade Francais coach John Connolly believed that a video referee should be available for all major games.

"As the games progress, we should be using technology," he said. "The referee has a tough job, although I realize there is a tremendous cost. You can always go back to whats, ifs and maybes. Munster played well and with great courage and I felt we were fortunate to win."

Truth was, Munster struggled during the first half because of their lack of match practice as much as anything else. The absence of Alan Quinlan through injury didn’t help, and while David Wallace started, he could never have been expected to be at his best after a knee injury. Stade Francais looked the more threatening side and a try by Cliff Mytton and some accurate goalkicking by out-half Diego Dominguez, against two penalties by Ronan O’Gara, gave the French that 16-6 advantage.

Despite the intense frustration of the O’Neill incident, Munster were a different force during the second half. With Anthony Foley and John Langford impressing, the lead was gradually eroded by two more O’Gara penalties. However, the international out-half was also guilty of three misses, and because the disallowed try was the nearest they came to crossing Stade’s line, Munster needed O’Gara to be at his very best placekicking form.

He kept his nerve to land a fifth penalty two minutes from the end, but it wasn’t enough. Beaten by a point in last year’s final, and now controversially beaten by a point in this season’s semifinal. Munster have every right to be proud of their performances in Europe’s premier club tournament, but this week they’ve also every reason to be angry at the worst decision in the six years of the competition.