Elissalde: It's not rugby

Toulouse star hits out at Munster gameplan

Last updated: 26th May 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Elissalde: It's not rugby

Elissalde: Unimpressed

It's getting like basketball where the only option is to make a technical error and take the points. That's not rugby, it's nothing.

Jean-Baptiste Elissalde
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Toulouse fly-half Jean-Baptiste Elissalde has hit out at the manner in which Munster recorded their 16-13 victory in the Heineken Cup Final on Saturday.

The Frenchman was so frustrated with the Irish side's keep-ball tactics that he eventually lost his cool and was seen arguing vehemently with referee Nigel Owens late in the game.

Whilst Elissalde was gracious enough to accept the defeat, he was far from happy in the manner which Munster won.

"Munster deserved what they got because we weren't very good but you can't play rugby like that," he told The Guardian.

"There were 15 minutes at the end of the game where we couldn't get our hands on the ball without infringing.

Off the hook

"It's getting like basketball where the only option is to make a technical error and take the points. That's not rugby, it's nothing."

Despite his criticism of Munster, Elissalde was quick to admit that he and his Toulouse team-mates were guilty of letting their opponents off the hook after the French outfit failed to capitalise on their early dominance at the Millennium Stadium.

"If we had got a lead, then the last five minutes wouldn't have been pick-and-go, they couldn't have done it for ever," he added.

"Le pick-and-go is meaningless, it's not rugby.

"I have nothing against the referee at all but he wasn't able to referee it. Either he had to let everything go, in which case it would have been total chaos, or he would have had to stop the game at every ruck.

"You had one guy diving alone on to the ground, another on top. At the end, I told him there were only blues (Munster) on the ground, no reds (Toulouse), no tackler and tackled, so I was not breaking the rules. But my English isn't super."

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