Rennie ‘disappointed’ at referee decisions as Saracen double-cited
DETERMINED as Glasgow Warriors had been to focus on their own failings following their defeat by Saracens in the Heineken Champions Cup, the double citing of the English champions’ centre Alex Lozowski invited criticism of the way the match had been officiated and it was not rejected.
Dave Rennie, Glasgow’s head coach, firmly maintained yesterday that his players had only themselves to blame for failing to take so much as a losing bonus point from the encounter.
However, after it emerged that sufficient evidence had emerged to bring Lozowski in front of a disciplinary panel, he suggested those moments were by no means the only offences the match officials had failed to address during the course of the game.
“I think one of them is the clean-out on Fraser Brown. I was really surprised at the time that the TMO didn’t jump in and deal with that,” said Rennie.
“We ended up getting penalised for another issue and it cost us three points, but the fact he has been cited shows it was probably a yellow card – reckless, no arms, into the knees, which could have been season-ending for Fraser.
“We didn’t cite him. We let the citing commissioner deal with that sort of thing. But we’re certainly disappointed with a number of things that happened during the game from a refereeing perspective.
“We’ve cut a number of clips and sent them in to Joel Jutge (European Rugby’s head of match officials) and we’re waiting for a response.”
Far from condemning Saracens for rough-house tactics, Rennie expressed a grudging admiration for the streetwise way in which the two-time former European champions went about their business.
“You need strong refereeing. What you permit you promote,” Rennie observed.
“I just think if the referee had been stronger in the first 10 minutes of the game, penalised Itoje for creeping around the maul and other offences, it would get changed.But if you allow guys to do it, they’ll keep doing it ... and good on them. It’s smart footy in the end.
“We want to be really physical, within the law. We’ve had our say. We’ve moved on and want to look ahead.
“We had our chances and got ourselves at the right end of the field but needed to be more patient and clinical.”
The ferocity of the clash took its toll, with Alex Dunbar suffering a concussion and the aforementioned Brown picking up shoulder and knee knocks. But, with the return to availability of Dunbar’s fellow centre Sam Johnson offering an additional option, both have a chance to be involved this coming weekend.
Saracens, however, were left counting the greater cost, with several of their players breaking bones in the Scotstoun encounter.
Little doubt, then, that Glasgow proved they can be