Munster face Ospreys tomorrow in their bid to retain their European Cup crown wary of an English referee who cracked down on Ireland’s indiscipline against Wales in their Six Nations title decider.
Wayne Barnes was the man in charge at the Millennium Stadium last month when Ireland beat Wales 17-15 in a nail-biting encounter to claim its first Grand Slam in 60 years.
The whistle-happy Englishman penalized Ireland 17 times during their historic victory.
Munster prop Marcus Horan said his club could not afford to concede a similar amount against the Ospreys at Thomond Park in their European Cup quarter-final tomorrow.
“We have spoken about the refereeing. We were disappointed with the scrums against Wales,” Horan said, adding that Munster — players from which made up 11 of Ireland’s 22-man squad against Wales — had been twice refereed by Barnes in European action this season.
“We didn’t feel we were doing anything different right throughout the Six Nations,” Horan said.
RE-PLAY
The quarter-final match is being branded as a re-run of that decisive Six Nations game with Ospreys skipper Ryan Jones among 10 of the Welsh squad who lost to the Irish in Cardiff.
“There’s no point in us being in this competition if we did not believe we could win,” Ospreys coach Sean Holley said.
“I know we are playing against the current European champions and, as we saw with Porto against Manchester United [in Champions League soccer], it can bring out something a bit special. I would expect that on Sunday from us.”
Tomorrow’s other quarter-final sees Munster’s Irish rivals Leinster traveling to Harlequins, currently second in the English Premiership, a point behind leaders Leicester.
Richards warned of Quins feeling the backlash of Leinster’s “bridesmaid” tag, having failed to match the continental successes of Munster.
Today’s quarter-finals see Cardiff Blues hosting three-time former champions Toulouse and Bath traveling to Leicester.
Toulouse are the sole French club to have reached the knock-out phase of European club rugby’s blue riband competition this season, but the Blues qualified for their home tie after coming through pool action unbeaten.
One player itching to take on his former teammates is Wales’ most-capped player Gareth Thomas, who spent three years with Toulouse before returning to sign for the Blues.
‘BOLD, CONFIDENT’
“To beat Toulouse, you need to be bold, you need to be confident,” he said. “When you play against them, you can be overawed. We’ve obviously got to stop their off-load game and the tempo of their game.”
Leicester will be without prop Julian White, serving a two-week ban for punching, but South African World Cup winner Butch James will be available for Bath after being cleared of stamping.
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