Tigers: 'Replay the only solution'
Tue, 26 Jan 2010 09:13
What now?: Leicester Tiger Scott Hamilton during Saturday\'s big clash.
Despite the fact that the Heineken Cup quarter-finals draw has already been confirmed, Leicester chief executive Peter Wheeler is pushing for the Round Six clash between the Tigers and the Ospreys to be replayed.
Saturday's clash at the Liberty Stadium, despite being a classic encounter between to European giants, is now covered in controversy following a minute of play which saw the home side play with 16 men on the pitch.
Fullback Lee Byrne was the man at the centre of the issue. Allowed back on to the pitch by the Ospreys staff while his temporary replacement, Sonny Parker, was still in play.
The ERC have already confirmed that they are looking into the incident but there is no precedent for replaying a match or changing a result as a result of a sideline management error.
ERC formally investigate Ospreys' win
Looking back on the minute when his side was up against an extra man, Wheeler said: "We were pressing on their line and we had three or four periods of attack during the time they had 16 men on the field,
"The player [Byrne] who came on interfered or was involved in at least two of them close to the line.
"Any neutral person who saw that happen would say it affected the result of the game."
His proposed solution?
"We want what is right and fair for that situation.
"The only way to put us back in that situation is to replay the game.
"It was our best opportunity of the match to score and we’ve inquired to ERC to say where do we go from here?"
Speaking immediately after the match itself Leicester's Director of Rugby, Richard Cockerill, said he would not be making an issue of the error but his club officials, by lodging a formal complaint that very night, have clearly decided that the incident warranted investigation.
Proud Cockerill: 'Sometimes you lose'
Player numbers mismanagement has never before resulted in a match being replayed although England, after a 34 second stint with 16 players in their 2003 World Cup clash with Samoa, were fined £10,000.
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