Cornish Pirates have appealed to the tournament director of the British & Irish Cup about a perceived breach of the laws in Friday's game at Leinster.

Leinster won 12-10, but the Pirates believe the match unfairly went to uncontested scrums.

On 58 minutes, Leinster hooker Jason Harris was yellow carded, at which point the scrums became uncontested.

However, the Pirates believe the fact that Leinster had prop Stewart Maguire on the bench made the ruling unfair.

Maguire subsequently entered the action 10 minutes later, at the same time as Harris returned from the sin bin.

Pirates CEO Rod Coward has said he is going to send a DVD of the match to the Rugby Football Union, who will then decide whether or not to take action.

Coward said: "Having contacted the tournament director, we have invited the committee to review the game and in particular the circumstances surrounding the uncontested scrums.

"We will provide a copy of the match DVD as soon as it becomes available."

The RFU regulations state that if a club cannot provide a replacement when a front row player is required to leave the field, the referee can order uncontested scrums.

Friday's referee, David Bodilly, said that Leinster did not breach these rules as there was no other hooker available to replace Harris for the period that he was in the sin bin.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version