Matt Williams blasts match officials
October 18 2008
Ulster coach Matt Williams complained bitterly about the refereeing of Welsh official Tim Hayes following his side's 42-21 Heineken Cup defeat against Harlequins at The Stoop.
Scrum-half Danny Care was the difference, scoring one try and creating two more for the Londoners, but Williams felt his side were hamstrung by some poor decision-making.
"At half-time the count was eight penalties, two free-kicks and a penalty try against us," he said.
"It's an eight-zero penalty count at half-time. Are you telling me that they did not infringe at the breakdown once in the first half?"
Ulster suffered when flanker Matt McCullough was sin-binned and then the referee awarded Quins a penalty try after centre Ugo Monye was obstructed.
"Quins scored two great short-kicking tries in the second half. All credit to them, great skill, but the referee influenced every other Quins score in that first half. The sin-binning was (McCullough's) frustration (coming out)," Williams added.
"We were competing for the ball and not getting the penalties, our scrum-half was getting hit by guys coming across the side and Quins really target the breakdown, very, very smart. But no team can cope with that ocean of possession against you.
"Officiating is just so difficult at this moment but you have to be very careful what you say as a coach. It is just totally inconsistent.
"We will put in a report. I don't talk to referees. It's like complaining to your mother-in-law about your wife. It doesn't get you too far," he said.
Dean Richards, the Harlequins director of rugby who revealed after the match that his England winger David Strettle will undergo an operation on his injured foot on Monday, saw it differently after watching his side's sparkling six-try performance as they made it two wins from two matches in Pool Four to maintain the pressure on French giants Stade Francais, who have also won both their matches.
"I don't think it was unfair. I think the referee refereed it as he saw it," Richards said.
"There was an exchange of comments between their captain and the referee at half-time and in the second half he came out and refereed it slightly differently at the breakdown which changed the game slightly. It became a lot messier after that.
"A couple of things we noticed about Ulster before we came into the game was that at times they could be ill-disciplined, that if they turned up here without a disciplined head on they would shoot themselves in the foot."
England manager Martin Johnson and backs coach Brian Smith watched Harlequins in-form scrum-half Care turn in another match-winning performance.
"It would surprise me if he wasn't in the starting XV," Richards added.
Opposite number Williams accepts that Ulster's Heineken Cup hopes are not looking good after defeats in their first two matches.
"Not getting a bonus point could make it a bridge too far," he said.