News

Novès rues yellow card

May 24 2008

Guy Novès lauded streetwise Munster following their victory in Saturday's Heineken Cup Final in Cardiff, but reckons the long arm of the law had contributed to his side's tense 16-13 defeat.

Toulouse - Heineken Cup winners in 1996, 2003 and 2005 - conjured a try for wing Yves Donguy, with Jean Baptiste-Elissalde adding a drop-goal, penalty and conversion.

But Munster came good when the pressure really came on, closing down the game in impressive fashion.

The French giants endured 10 minutes without their captain, Fabien Pelous, and Novès believes the lock's sin-binning changed the course of the game.

Pelous and Munster's Alan Quinlan squared up innocuously in the 50th minute of the game, and the Frenchman gave his opponent a kick up the backside as he turned to walk away.

Quinlan appealed to touch judge Nigel Whitehouse who duly recommended a yellow card after summoning referee Nigel Owens.

"We played very well for the first 23 minutes, put them under a lot of pressure and were pretty much camped in their half but didn't take full advantage," said Novès.

"In the second half they were far more physically present, particularly at the rucks and line-out, and were able to close out the end of the game.

"They deserved to win, their ball retention was fantastic and they knew what they had to do to beat us.

"We know Munster are a team of great quality, but I felt a turning point was the yellow card for Fabien Pelous."

Novès also felt the Irish had a somewhat unfair advantage in their familiarity with referee Owens.

"They had the same referee in the semi-final, quarter-final and in the pool stages, which is something I have never seen before, and they were able to get used to his style of refereeing," he said.

Despite his coach's gripes, Pelous said there was no excuse for his action.

"I did lose my head a little bit it is a shame I reacted like that," said the 34-year-old.

"The player [Quinlan] stamped on my foot and I reacted but the referee saw only the second kick.

"But at my age it's a silly to act like that.

"As for the game, we made some good plays but our finishing wasn't great.

"We were in it until the end, but it was Munster's ability for ball retention that proved crucial."