mens
United-Rugby-Championship
Munster head coach Clayton McMillan has backed No.8 Gavin Coombes following the charge the No.8 made during Munster’s 24-18 defeat by Leinster at the Aviva Stadium.
The home side recovered from a poor start and 13-0 down to claim a 24-18 win over Munster at the Aviva Stadium.
A Charlie O’Shea boot and Shane Daly’s superb first-half try put Munster in control before a brilliant pass from Jamison Gibson-Park diverted Tommy O’Brien before the break. Ryan Baird’s try sparked the comeback and Joey Carbery added the extras.
Scores from Charlie Tector and Jamie Osborne completed the turnaround before Ben O’Connor grabbed a late consolation try for Munster.
However, the alleged groin-grabbing incident is now likely to result in a citation from SRU commissioner Peter Ferguson, who now has 48 hours to decide whether or not to press charges.
Just before half-time, Coombes approached referee Andrew Brace and leveled a groin-grabbing charge against one of Leinster’s forwards, with screenshots circulating on social media suggesting Leinster’s hooker Ronan Kelleher was the player at the center of the allegation, with the incident occurring during a shoot-out on around 37 minutes.
It was a major talking point after the game and questions were put to both McMillan and Leinster head coach Leo Cullen.
“It’s one of those things where you leave it for power,” McMillan said in his post-match press conference. “All I know is that I support our players 100 per cent that if they make a claim like that, they wouldn’t do it lightly. And he’s not that kind of person, Gavin, so we’ll see where it goes.”
Cullen remained circumspect about the incident and was at pains to emphasize that he saw nothing.
“I didn’t see anything…I don’t know,” Cullen said. “It looked like he (Coombes) changed his mind halfway through the charge too, so I don’t know.
“Once that allegation is made, it becomes a serious matter for the citation commissioner, so my comments here can’t help at all… As far as I can see, I see nothing.
“It’s not ideal,” Cullen admitted.
