Humphreys has sympathy with Paul O'Connell after his red card

Forwards coach Jonathan Humphreys criticised the key yellow card given to prop Paul James in the Ospreys' 22-16 Heineken Cup defeat in Munster.

"I'd like to know what the thinking or reasoning was," said Humphreys after seeing his side concede two tries in the sin-bin period that swung the game.

James saw yellow for a first scrum penalty, after pressure had seen his side concede several in the loose.

Humphreys had sympathy for Munster's Paul O'Connell, who was later sent off.

"Paul O'Connell is not a dirty player by any stretch of the imagination," said Humphreys, whose side were unable to capitalise against 14 men after the lock saw red after his swinging arm hit Ospreys number eight Jonathan Thomas.

"A very similar thing happened to Gavin Henson against Leicester, and unfortunately he got 16 weeks for an offence like that.

"Everybody in the rugby world knows Paul, we've played against him a lot and have a lot of admiration for him as a player.

"He's an iconic figure, so it's disappointing for him and Munster that he potentially could miss a large chunk of the season now.

"Jonathan was a little unsure of himself, we were possibly thinking of making that change around that point anyway, but he couldn't carry on, he was unfit to carry on."

Munster top pool three on 10 points, with Toulon on eight and the Ospreys on six after Dan Biggar's late penalty secured a losing bonus point in the heated Thomond Park showdown.

Next Saturday's reverse fixtures see Munster travel to Swansea's Liberty Stadium while the pool's bottom side, London Irish, travel to Toulon.

We've gone into this game knowing that Munster have two tight-heads that do not scrummage square Jonathan Humphreys

"The group is pretty even now," said Humphreys.

"I thought it was a good opportunity for one of us to get a distinct advantage but right now it's pretty even-stevens.

"We came here looking for the win, that was our aspiration, now we are going back to the Liberty next week where we will have the biggest crowd in a long while.

"It is important now that our supporters are up for it, they turn up in black and support their team as passionately and noisily as the Munster fans were here."

But the former Wales captain and hooker will be keen to see a different interpretation at the scrum, where he felt his side were denied the chance to exploit an advantage over the Munster eight.

"I felt that we were the dominant scrum out there," said Humphreys.

"I have a big thing that referees need to referee tight-heads. They have to.

"It's very simple how to referee a tight-head, if he doesn't stay square then it's a penalty against him. That's what it is.

"Now we've gone into this game knowing that Munster have two tight-heads that do not scrummage square.

"We started the game refereeing that, and then out of the blue Paul James gets yellow carded."

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