Namibia To Cite Irish Player

Within moments of the match between Ireland and Namibia finishing at The Aussie Stadium in Sydney, Namibian coach David Waterston stated they would be citing an Irish player.

Speaking to a television interviewer Waterston said,

“Look we didn’t get the rub of the green. The fourth and the fifth tries there were knock-ons beforehand. But we accept that because that’s rugby. Some days you have good days some days, you have bad days.

“Now there was an incident which we’re citing a gentleman in the Irish side for which was totally unsavoury. Normally when we get beaten, which is quite often these days, we don’t do a citing because we believe that cowboys don’t cry. However we will in this case.”

While Waterston didn’t specify a particular player, it may well be Irish lock Paul O’Connell who could be the player named in the citing over an incident at the start of the final quarter.

In the 67th minute, O’Connell, who had been outstanding throughout, took a Namibian lineout throw inside their half and was driven forward by his pack. In the course of the drive, Archie Graham went to ground and O’Connell’s boots were seen to come in contact with the prone lock. When the move came to a halt on the Namibian 22, linesman Stuart Dickinson brought the incident to the attention of referee Andrew Cole indentifying “five green”, and Cole took O’Connell aside before awarding a penalty. The referee’s mcrophone picked up O’Connell saying, “I was holding the ball, he was lying underneath me. I couldn’t see him, I couldn’t see the guy.”

It was subsequently reported that Namibia had in fact asked the citing commissioner to look at the incident to decide if indeed there was a case to answered.

Waterston did manage to take some consolation from the heavy defeat.

“Our lines were better. Unfortunately we gave away soft tries in the first twenty minutes but I think we are getting more attuned to the pace of the game.

“The conditions weren’t good for us. It’s like a hot day in Ireland, the conditions out there. The boys from Windhoek aren’t used to rain. We were out of our league but we never gave up trying and I think we went up a notch from our first game. But it’s hard playing sides that are ranked so high in the world. It really puts us under the spotlight.”