It is in the history books as a Gloucester win but it is also another chapter of Romain Poite crimes against Ireland.
Connacht will contest for the Amlin Challenge Cup again next season after they were cruelly denied in their Champions Cup playoff encounter with Gloucester at Kingsholm.
The westerners were 25-18 up against David Humphreys’ side with a minute to go when French referee Poite
Post-match, Lam told reporters: ‘That’s exactly what we saw, that Palmer had come on to our side and we would have thought a penalty was coming our way. If you look at the video, both Robbie [Henshaw] and Ian Porter highlighted that, but unfortunately that penalty went against us.’
Here is the penalty in question.
To compound the sense of injustice, Poite then ignored Billy Twelvetrees’ blocking of Connacht lock Andrew Browne, which opened a gap in front of their posts and allowed Billy Meakes to canter through for the try – with 80:19 on the clock.
The game went to extra time and Connacht led, once again, only to concede two tries in the space of two minutes in the second, fateful period.
Lam was ‘absolutely gutted’ to see his side fall short but, on the whole, did his best to bite his tongue.
Hat-tip: Andy McGeady
