Former Test referee Owen Doyle has slammed English official Karl Dickson for awarding RC Toulon a match-winning penalty in the latter stages of the Investec Champions Cup clash against Munster.<\/p>\n
In an ill-disciplined encounter, the Irish province fell to a 27-25 defeat at the hands of the French giants due to a late penalty through the boot of Marius Domon.<\/p>\n
Referee Dickson issued four yellow cards during the match, two to each team, but much has been made of the final penalty awarded to the Top 14 club, which was the final nail in Munster\u2019s<\/a> coffin.<\/p>\n The Irish<\/a> side edged into the lead with eight minutes left on the clock as Tom Farrell latched onto a sharp offload from Alex Nankivell to crash over the line out wide. Jack Crowley added the extras to put his side 25-23 ahead, but it was Toulon who would have the final say.<\/p>\n Match-deciding penalty<\/p>\n The French club were on the attack, looking for the match-winning score with less than six minutes left on the clock, when Farrell made a tackle on Dany Priso, moved away from the ensuing breakdown, which provided the opportunity for Tadhg Beirne to complete the steal.<\/p>\n However, Dickson believed that Farrell had taken up the space at the ruck to facilitate Beirne\u2019s steal and duly penalised Munster, giving Toulon the opportunity to go in front in the Champions Cup<\/a> clash from the tee.<\/p>\n \u201cLook, you\u2019re in a tackle and he\u2019s saying \u2018release him\u2019 but like, you can\u2019t just get out of the way of them,\u201d Beirne said after the match when asked about the decision. \u201cBut there\u2019s no point in arguing because once the decision is made, the decision is made.<\/p>\n \u201cWe may disagree or disagree, whatever, it doesn\u2019t really matter at the end of the day. It\u2019s not the reason we ended up losing the game.\u201d<\/p>\n Munster boss Clayton McMillan added, \u201cLook, that\u2019s a world-class referee there [Dickson], and you pick those guys to make the key calls. He\u2019ll be the one that will go away and review it and make his own decision around whether it was right or wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n England greats weigh in on Antoine Dupont\u2019s \u2018off day\u2019 as Saracens \u2018rattle\u2019 Toulouse and France stars<\/a><\/p>\n However, Doyle<\/a> was far more damning in his assessment of the English referee, who he believes broke the unwritten rule that the players should decide the match\u2019s outcome and not the officials.<\/p>\n \u201cThe truly awful first half is best forgotten, but then we had a real edge-of-the-seat rollercoaster ride,\u201d the former boss of Irish referees wrote in Irish Times<\/a> column.<\/p>\n \u201cMunster\u00a0are inclined to live on the edge around the breakdown and could do with tidying things up. Fourteen penalties conceded is just too much, particularly when Toulon coughed up half of that number. Consider also the number of points conceded, with two tries going against them when\u00a0Tadhg Beirne\u00a0was in the sin bin. His absence was very costly.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, there has been unanimous disagreement with the final penalty. It was a clear case of the whistle deciding the match. With just four minutes left, a terribly harsh call by Dickson saw Munster penalised at the breakdown. There used to be a very important law \u2013 it\u2019s never been written down, but it is the height of common sense. It says that players must decide the outcome, not the referee\u2019s whistle.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, in a close finish as the clock winds down, the referee makes a conscious decision not to penalise a marginal offence, but only something which is so clear and obvious that it cannot be questioned. I wonder where those wise, unwritten words have gone.\u201d<\/p>\n