Italy head coach Kieran Crowley criticised the performance of the officials following his side’s 29-17 home loss to Wales in the Six Nations.
The Azzurri were on the wrong end of a few key decisions in the loss to Warren Gatland’s charges, and a frustrated Crowley expressed his frustration after the match.
Crowley slams officials
Speaking to Virgin Media after the match, Crowley was asked if he shared the frustration of captain Michele Lamaro from the official’s decisions.
“Oh bloody oath, god, I mean, how can I team give away 17 penalties, not be warned once five or six of those on their own line,” the Italy head coach said in reference to Wales‘ penalty count.
“Then not awarding of a penalty try to us in the first half. There was clearly that number 10 was offside when he tackled,” he added, referring to Owen Williams’ tackle on Juan Ignacio Brex.
“Then they didn’t even review the two guys that were cleaned out in the backfield when we broke. So there’s a lot of bloody frustration.
“Look, our execution wasn’t good enough at times. We’ve made a lot of line breaks and didn’t finish them so. We’re gonna take that on the chin and look at things we can control.”
“I’m getting sick of going through the right channels”
Crowley added that he was sick of going through the official World Rugby’s channels around the official’s performances.
“Oh yeah, look, if we get that penalty try it’s 15-10. What happened from there they came down the other end and got a penalty try.
“It’s funny, it’s you’ve got to go through the right channels, but I’m getting sick of going through the right channels and getting a response that says, oh, we’re sorry we got it wrong because that just wasn’t good enough today.”
Watch the full interview below
"There's a lot of bloody frustration!"
"I'm getting sick of going through the right channels and getting a response that says 'sorry, we got it wrong'. That just wasn't good enough today."
Kieran Crowley on the officiating in Rome today.#ITAvWAL #GuinnessSixNations pic.twitter.com/S3lLtTUjYl
— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) March 11, 2023
Asked if his team would have had a better chance if the decisions didn’t go against them.
“Doesn’t help, does it? Oh no, it doesn’t help. But then there’s gotta be consistency in there. I mean, you look, Pierre Bruno gets yellow-carded for leading arm, but then you get the guy goes up for a ball in the air where he said never in a position to catch it.
“And the referee says fair contest but right. I’ll go back to it, you know, well done to Wales. We’ve just gotta get better at our execution and control the things that we can.”
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