Referee gets it in the neck for card debacle

A ROW is brewing over PRO14 referee David Wilkinson who took charge of the Southern Kings’ clash against the Ospreys in Swansea.

Ospreys interim head coach Allen Clarke has claimed Wilkinson forgot his red and yellow cards at the Liberty Stadium and that they were later brought to him by the fourth official.

The Kings conceded six penalties in their 22 in the first 11 minutes without anyone being sin-binned.

Ospreys eventually won the match 26-12 after they were awarded two late penalty tries by Wilkinson.

After the final transgression of that batch, former Wales international Martyn Williams said in his capacity as BBC Wales’s match summariser: “I think he’s got to go to his cards here.”

But Wilkinson didn’t go for his pocket.

Clarke said in the post-match press conference he had later seen the fourth official coming onto the field to hand the Irishman something.

“I actually think the referee forgot the cards, to be honest, and I’m not joking,” said Clarke.

“I think the fourth official came out with them. I spotted something. A transaction, anyway.

“It is what it is.

“There were a couple of team warnings, and maybe we got it [the sin-binnings] at the back-end of the game. It was a credit to the Kings in terms of their efforts and playing to the edge of the law.”

Reporters tried to speak to Wilkinson after the game but he had left the Liberty Stadium before the Ospreys press conference had finished.

Wilkinson, however, located his cards in the second half, when he showed yellows to Kings forwards Johan Smith and Eital Bredenkamp as the Ospreys came from behind to secure a hard-earned victory.

After the fifth penalty early on, he told Kings skipper Michael Willemse: “Any more and somebody goes – talk to them.”

Eleven seconds later, there was a collapsed scrum in the shadow of the visitors’ posts and no one was dispatched to the cooler.

After leading 12-7 at the break, the Kings were eventually overpowered by the Welsh side who dominated proceedings in the second half.

After defeats against Ulster and the Ospreys, the Kings complete their three-match European tour against Leinster in Dublin on Friday.

Leinster moved three points clear of Scarlets in their head-to-head battle for the top spot in Conference B after an entertaining 20-13 win at the RDS Arena in Dublin.

The Kings have lost all 15 of their opening matches in the competition.