Jackman right to question ref justice
RICHARD Cockerill insists Bernard Jackman had every right to speak out on the standard of refereeing in the Guinness PRO14.
Jackman was hit with a fourweek stadium ban, two weeks of it suspended, after publicly slamming the performance of referee Ian Davies in the wake of the Dragons’ Welsh derby defeat at home to Cardiff Blues last month.
The former Ireland hooker was absent from the Gwent region’s 18-12 victory over Edinburgh at Newport’s Rodney Parade following his suspension for breaching his employer the Welsh Rugby Union’s code of conduct on making comments about match officials.
Outspoken ex-England star and former Leicester Tigers boss Cockerill was unhappy with the controversial officiating of South African referee Stuart Berry as his Edinbugh team failed to break their losing habit on the road in this season’s PRO14.
Cockerill, who earlier this season had been furious with Welsh whistle-blower Davies’ handling of a match featuring Edinburgh, didn’t mince his words.
“I 100 per cent sympathise with Bernard Jackman because referees make decisions which sway games,” rapped Cockerill.
“Everybody should be accountable it’s as simple as that. My stance hasn’t changed on that.”
Cockerill left Rodney Parade unhappy Berry didn’t sin-bin any Dragons players for deliberately conceding penalties to prevent Edinburgh from scoring late in the first half.
“We were camped on their line for 10 minutes and they gave away multiple penalties yet received no yellow card,” bristled Cockerill.
“When we did eventually cross the try-line it was a double movement after the referee had spent 10 minutes looking at the screen thinking: ‘Was it, wasn’t it? I tell you what we’ll go against the attacking team.’ That’s life.
“We were camped on their line for what seemed like forever and the referee kept giving them warnings. It’s happened in every game that we’ve played and it never seems to get better.
“I’ll send a report to (PRO14 elite referee manager) Greg Garner and I’ll get a report back. He will agree with me and we’ll just go to Cork and play again.”