Steve Diamond slams referee after Sale loss at London Irish
Last Updated: 12/04/15 6:22pm
Sale Sharks director of rugby Steve Diamond could not contain his fury at referee Greg Macdonald after his side suffered a surprise defeat at London Irish.
The 25-23 loss put a huge dent in Sale's hopes of qualifying for European Cup rugby next season.
The Sharks remain in seventh position but they lost valuable ground on their closest rivals as they continued their miserable run in Reading, where they have failed to win since 2006, and Diamond was highly critical of the appointment of inexperienced referee Macdonald.
"There were six experienced Premiership referees officiating in the Championship yesterday," he said.
"This was a massive game with livelihoods depending on it but too often our club are given inexperienced referees.
"We should have had two penalty tries in the first half and for the critical try just before half-time, their player was 15 metres offside when the kick was taken."
This was a massive game with livelihoods depending on it but too often our club are given inexperienced referees.
Steve Diamond
At that stage, Sale were leading 10-6 when Chris Noakes attempted a penalty from inside own half.
The kick fell short but Irish chased hard and Danny Cipriani inexplicably chose to run the ball. His pass to Mike Haley was fumbled, allowing Andrew Fenby to race away and score.
Diamond said: "Cipriani is an experienced player but he took the wrong option. This gave them momentum and allowed them to win the second half hands down as our game management was poor."
Sale now face an uphill task to qualify for Europe but Diamond remains confident.
"We are good at home and have Newcastle and Harlequins to come but we've got to come and beat a side like Irish who are in a transition period," he added.
Irish head coach Glenn Delaney accepted that Fenby's try was the turning point.
"It was a massive boost, we were incredibly lucky and it was almost unbelievable to be gifted such a try," he said.
"It was a nip-and-tuck game but those seven points were game-changing. I'm proud of the never-say-die attitude of the players as we found a way to win a very close game."