One can understand why Wasps would be livid with the decision.
The Premiership side were rightly livid with match officials at The Sportsground, on Saturday, when Connacht were allowed to kick a penalty for an attacking line-out after the 80-minute mark.
While a rule change will allow teams to do that exact action in 2017, it is not a current rule. Connacht could have taken a tap penalty and continued to lay siege to the Wasps line but the attacking line-out allowed them a platform to set up a rolling maul.
The maul was duly set up and Connacht debutant Naulia Dawai crashed over. Jack Carty then slotted over a tight conversion to give the westerners a 20-18 victory and leave Wasps with a solitary bonus point.
Wasps’ mood was helped none by an EPCR statement, on Sunday, that confirmed the mistake from match officials.
This afternoon, Wasps released a statement that was equal parts bizarre [continuing to criticise officials] and classy [congratulating Connacht]. The full statement reads:
‘Wasps have issued the following response to EPCR’s statement yesterday, which clarified that a mistake was made by match officials in Wasps’ game against Connacht on Saturday, when Connacht were allowed to take a lineout after time had elapsed, that resulted in the winning try:
‘Wasps’ pitchside officials immediately stressed to the 4th official that Connacht could not take the lineout, as the referee had indicated time had gone beyond 80 minutes. Wasps’ players on the pitch also emphasised to the referee that time was up. Despite several protests, the lineout was still allowed to be taken.
‘We all understand referees are only human and mistakes do occasionally happen. However, for a referee and 4th official to get the laws of the game wrong at a crucial stage of a big match is hugely disappointing. The error made could have serious repercussions in terms of Wasps’ qualification hopes or the prospect of securing a home quarter final.
‘EPCR have stated that the result stands. We congratulate Connacht after a hard fought contest and we will now move on to the final rounds, after tough Premiership games against Bath, Newcastle and Leicester Tigers.’
One hopes that both sides can collect enough points in their final two games so they can both reach the knock-out stages.
