Poite or Mallet lying?

Risteard

Link

THE IRB believe the letter allegedly written by French referee Romain Poite to the Italian Rugby Federation last year does not exist. Italian coach Nick Mallet claimed, on the eve of last Saturday’s game in Rome, that Poite had apologised to the Italian federation last year for penalising Martin Castrogiovanni in the scrum in the Six Nations match at Croke Park.
Although the IRB are not willing to make a formal statement, The Irish Times was able to confirm that, following a conversation between IRB referees manager Paddy O’Brien and Poite, the French referee denied writing such a letter.
Mallett’s comments may now be investigated, although the official response of the Six Nations yesterday seemed to indicate otherwise as they were unaware the situation even existed.
“For a misconduct case to be taken, attention must be drawn to us formally,” said a Six Nations spokesman.
Poite came in for criticism on Saturday for penalising Ireland and Leinster props Cian Healy and Mike Ross.
Having studied replays of the scrum, and with an eye to avoiding similar problems when the fearsome French pack down at the Aviva Stadium this Sunday, the Irish management are expected to seek clarification from O’Brien on the penalties awarded against the props during Saturday’s game.
Coach Declan Kidney said he intends to voice his concerns about Poite’s interpretation of the techniques adopted by Italian props Martin Castrogiovanni and Salvatore Perugini to the “appropriate parties” before scrummaging against a French pack that forced a penalty try out of the Scots in Paris.
The only route for Kidney to O’Brien is via the IRFU referees liaison Owen Doyle.
Leinster coach Joe Schmidt was asked to comment on the issue yesterday, particularly the difficulties Ross was apparently experiencing.
“Mike Ross, I thought he did really well in tough circumstances,” said Schmidt. “My personal opinion is that it doesn’t surprise me that the Irish panel are going to ask some questions about how the scrum was refereed. It appeared that Perugini released his bind very, very early. It allowed him to free himself to scrummage as he pleased.
“I thought that made it very difficult for Rossy, but I thought he stuck to the task well. I thought he did some good things around the park, which was one of the questions being asked about him.
“Rossy was maybe coming up (in the scrum) because Perugini was up, and I think if you look at who came up first, certainly who released their bind first, you can ask some questions.”

So Poite is denying writing a letter apologising to the Italian team yet Nick Mallet is saying that he did.

Probably a bit of column A and a bit of column B.

No need to get the wikileaks crew on it I don't think.

Poite was a goon before this letter, he'll surely be a goon after this letter.

Otacon

More important issue: Schmidt calls Ross 'Rossy'?

On-topic: I wonder will this help us on Sunday? Will the referee be affected by this debate?

I do not believe it should myself. I'd prefer we win the battle ourselves.

toomevara

Poite is an appalling referee, for my money one of the worst of the current top-tier refs. but I'd be really surprised if he actually wrote to a coach to apologise for on-field decisions. Having said that, if he did, it merely proves that his judgement off the field is as bad as his judgement on it.

Legion2008

I'm surprised that the IRB are not taking this matter more seriously.

If Poite did indeed write a letter apologising to Mallet for his decisions then it would indicate that Poite believed that he made mistakes and therefore is not fit to be a test match referee yet, it would certainly call into question his ability to be objective in a match up between the same opponents and therefore should not of been assigned this match.

If Mallet is lying then surely this is bringing the game into disrepute. At a minimum it is stating that Poite made a serious of errors in the last encounter and therefore wasn't fit to be appointed to the game, i.e. isn't of test quality. I don't see a huge difference between what Mallet would then be claiming and what Brendan Venter said during his rant after the Saccries v Leinster game, a rant which earned him a fine and a reprimand.

Either way the IRB need to get to the bottom of this matter themselves and not be relying on the IRFU to bring a complaint. The integrity of one of their refs has been called into question (whether you belive he is a good ref or not that doesn't matter in this regard) and Paddy O'Brien should be up in arms about this.

davidpfitz

Otacon wrote: »

More important issue: Schmidt calls Ross 'Rossy'?

It's odd for a Kiwi guy, isn't it? I'd have expected 'Rosso'.

Podge_irl

Legion2008 wrote: »

it would indicate that Poite believed that he made mistakes and therefore is not fit to be a test match referee yet

I have little to no time for Poite, but this point is a bit silly. I'd be FAR more concerned with a referee who believed he made no mistakes - because it's never happened in the history of rugby.

davidpfitz

Interesting article in the Guardian about this - shows some statistics on referees and how they dole out yellow cards. Who knew that Kaplan has handed out 40% of the Irish yellows in recent years!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/feb/08/six-nations-2011-ref

buck65

Poite, James Jones, N Patterson are the 3 worst refs in the world.

JustinDee

Legion2008 wrote: »

Either way the IRB need to get to the bottom of this matter themselves and not be relying on the IRFU to bring a complaint. The integrity of one of their refs has been called into question (whether you belive he is a good ref or not that doesn't matter in this regard) and Paddy O'Brien should be up in arms about this.

If there was a claim that a ref said they were biased intentionally or purposely doing one thing, then the IRB would take issue.
As it happens, its a non-story of a ref allegedly writing to a union (who "writes" communiques these days anyway??) and saying sorry for making mistakes.
Personally I believe its complete tosh and a wind-up by Nick Mallett. Amongst this 'outrage' it has been convoluted with said ref's performance at scrumtime last weekend to make a story as all that can be written about the competition has already been written.

He made bad calls on two scrums in particular in the Italy v Ireland game and these will no doubt be included in his match assessment.
There.
All done.
Easy.

Corkblowin

Surely the solution is simple - the IRB go to Mallet and ask for a copy the letter! If its not produced then Mallet has questions to answer, and vice versa. Could be sorted by Friday.

JustinDee

Corkblowin wrote: »

Surely the solution is simple - the IRB go to Mallet and ask for a copy the letter! If its not produced then Mallet has questions to answer, and vice versa. Could be sorted by Friday.

It is actually sorted now and everyone except certain media has moved on.

ozt9vdujny3srf

JustinDee wrote: »

It is actually sorted now and everyone except certain media has moved on.

Oh cool, what was the solution?

JustinDee

Serenity Slow Hailstorm wrote: »

Oh cool, what was the solution?

There isn't one as none needed.
Everyone involved has carried on after this non-event.
As far as I know anyway.

OldRio

Well if someone had accused me of unprofessional behaviour in my career I would seek clarification from the governing body. Especially following criticism of my latest 'performance'
There again perhaps sweeping things under the carpet is best suited for all concerned. Best not to rock the boat.

JustinDee

OldRio wrote: »

Well if someone had accused me of unprofessional behaviour in my career I would seek clarification from the governing body. Especially following criticism of my latest 'performance'
There again perhaps sweeping things under the carpet is best suited for all concerned. Best not to rock the boat.

No need to be so sarky.
There's nothing in it. Ref allegedly writes a letter of apology? So what? Coach says a ref wrote a letter of apology? Up to Romain Poite to take up issue with the IRB on this if untrue or he deems necessary.

As usual, people get hung up in the mist of things. Its like arguing over the Haka or what a player allegedly thinks of a team. Everything but the game. In other words, fluff.

Nothing being "swept under the carpet" :rolleyes:

seeing_ie

Fluff? So Poite didn't have a decisive influence on the last two Ireland Italy games?

You're a one-man IRFU nudge unit Justin.:cool:

JustinDee

seeing_ie wrote: »

Fluff? So Poite didn't have a decisive influence on the last two Ireland Italy games?

What has that to do with an alleged letter? Nothing changes. His performance is assessed by a qualified assessor regardless.

seeing_ie wrote: »

You're a one-man IRFU nudge unit Justin

Yes and I was also behind the JFK, MLK, RFK, Sadat, Lennon, Rabin assassinations, Spice Girls breakup and the Y2K illusion.

Otacon

Surely implying an act of misconduct has taken place from a match official brings the game into disrepute. Is Mallet not even going to be questioned on this? Seems like more than gamesmanship to me.

Anyway, if its not even being investigated, I suppose that's that.

OldRio

As you said "No need to be so sarky":D

'Lettergate' will come back to haunt Poite mark my words.
When the phone tapping recordings are made public Governments will fall.
I must admit the video of Mallet and Poite 'together' does seem fake.

yimrsg

If Roman Poite has written the supposed letter that's one thing if he didn't write the letter and has not taken umbrage at the issue and his name being bandied about, then that speaks volumes to me of his character or lack thereoff.

durkadurka

Mallett has now apologised. No such letter existed apparently.

Shelflife

Mallet should be hung out to dry on this one, he has attacked the integrity of the referee and lied about the actions of the referee.

Its a disrepute charge as he has made allegations about a refs integrity.

ozt9vdujny3srf

http://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/sixnations/2011/0219/mallettn.html

Chucky the tree

Pretty disgraceful by Mallet.

toomevara

Chucky the tree wrote: »

Pretty disgraceful by Mallet.

+1. Shocking, surely a need for a disciplinary enquiry here. I mean without being too previous Mallet straight up lied to pressure a ref. Am I missing something or is that not a really egregious act against the law and spirit of the game....

cython

toomevara wrote: »

+1. Shocking, surely a need for a disciplinary enquiry here. I mean without being too previous Mallet straight up lied to pressure a ref. Am I missing something or is that not a really egregious act against the law and spirit of the game....

Agreed. Surely if Brendan Venter can be fined for being "inappropriately critical of ERC, the tournament, the match officials and the sport of rugby union," then a coach who outright lies about a referee's actions (at international level to boot), and in doing so makes it appear that the referee second guesses, and has questionable confidence in, his own decisions must face some repercussions?!

hardCopy

Nick Mallett wrote:

I have already apologised to Romain and I am happy to put the record straight after I was reported as saying that Romain had written to us last year. I did not intend to put undue pressure on him prior to our match last week but accept that this may have been a consequence.'

Is he trying to imply that the reports were untrue or is he actually admitting to a lie?

It's a pretty blatant story to lie about, I don't see how he can claim to have been misinterpreted, if he has lied then surely he has to go.

(I believe his contract is uncertain for the RWC anyway, is this related?)

durkadurka

This isn't news folks, he apologised a month ago .

I don't think he'll be losing his job after beating France anyhow. He does deserve sanction by the authorities though.

andrewdcs

Machiavellian but I'd suspect Poite /IRB asked Mallet to do this, i.e say he mispoke as the consequences for Mallet is he looks like an idiot, for Poite he can no longer referee. Fishy. Wild conjecture and conspiracy (hey, this is the web dammit!) but I'd say the Italian federation got something nice out of it, media stayed onside.

IRB have a lot on their plates what with Northern and Southern hemisphere games being completely different to play / watch due to breakdown interpretations. Sadly, refereeing is going to be in the spot light, incidents like Kaplans the Poites and too many others don't help. All the malarky stared with the ELVs how to ruin sport through mismanagement and egos volumes I to IV. Massive respect for referees at all levels, but the IRB go out of their way to make it hard for them, a modern global game needs 1 set or rules and 1 way to interpret them.