In fairness I thought the ref had a reasonably good game. I «*watched*» the game on my radio as usual. 5 players had been released back from Ireland camp for the Friday night lights add that to a fair number of caps already in the Munster squad and I think you will find Munster were incredibly disciplined.
Yes, they get away will far too much handling of the ball off their feet, but discipline these days is sadly more about playing the whistle rather than respecting the LoTG. The South Africans were very ill-disciplined and unlike the team that beat Edinburgh the previous weekend. Stats, are only as useful as your interpretation of them. The referee can only whistle what’s in front of him; if one team insist on not listening to the man and the other team are cute enough not to infringe on things the match ref is hot about, what can you do? Munster are not the saints zero penalties would suggest and presumably SK will go home feeling they are better than the 15 penalties they foolishly gave away.
Match Officials
Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR, competition debut)
Assistant Referees: Sean Gallagher (IRFU) & Matteo Liperini (FIR)
TMO: Alan Falzone (FIR)