Referee admits he erred on line-out

Jonathan Kaplan, the referee whose handling of Western Province's controversial 12-6 victory over Ireland in Newlands last Saturday, has admitted he erred in denying the tourists a probable injury-time try when he penalised their 13-man line-out.

The referee for Tuesday's defeat against Griquas, Tappe Henning, had been a touch judge last Saturday and, to the surprise of the Irish management, sought out Paddy Johns prior to Tuesday's game to convey Kaplan's apology after his failed attempts to contact the Irish captain by phone.

A fat lot of good it will do Ireland now, who would gladly have sacrificed their try-scoring, 13-man line-out against Griquas, and so suffer a 52-8 defeat, in exchange for a probable 13-12 win against Western Province.

"I think it at least fully justifies our annoyance after the Western Province game," said a partially vindicated Donal Lenihan yesterday. "We wouldn't have got an apology only for making so much noise about it.

" 'Tis all well and good now, because I'd have no doubt that we would have scored and so we would have had a conversion to win the match. It adds to the frustration, but at least he's had the decency to admit he was wrong. And as I say, it justifies the way we expressed our annoyance afterwards."