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Rugby

19th Dec 2016

“It’s nothing to do with us” – Pat Lam gives his view on controversial last gasp win

It's a fair enough stance to take

Sean McMahon

Pat Lam simply states his team were just doing what the referee told them they could do.

This is a difficult situation for everyone involved.

London Wasps can feel rightly aggrieved for what happened at the end of the thrilling match which took place in the Sportsground on Saturday.

Connacht were allowed kick to the corner for a penalty after 80 minutes had elapsed. Under current rules, however, Connacht should have only been allowed to tap and go from the position of where the penalty was awarded.

Wasps, you would imagine, would have felt more confident defending a Connacht attack from open play, rather than attempting to defend a marauding rolling maul.

Wasps released an official statement outlining their grievances at the referee’s decision to award a kick to the corner at the end of that game, outlining how it is likely to have a detrimental impact on the outcome of the group.

Connacht play Ulster this week at the Kingspan stadium in what is likely to be a hotly contested contest.

In a press conference today in the build-up to this Pro12 derby, Lam shared his views on the incident with RTE.

“It’s really nothing to do with us. We asked could we kick it to the corner and the referee says “yep” so we kicked it to the corner and scored the try.” 

Lam continued to say that they would have been going for the try regardless before reiterating that the controversy surrounding the decision and the referee has got nothing to do with him and his team.

“If the answer was no then we would tap and go for the try. So it’s nothing to do with us, we just played the call.” 

You can’t blame Lam for not wanting to get embroiled in this issue.

The Connacht coach will want to do everything in his power to utilise the confidence gained from their most recent performance and use it to its maximum this week as they prepare for their match in Belfast.

You can see Lam share his views on this issue in the video below.