Greig Laidlaw will not be happy if Romain Poite takes charge of the World Cup match against Ireland in Yokohama in September after the Scotland captain said the referee “does not seem to like us” minutes after the defeat by Ireland at Murrayfield.
Scotland were upset Poite did not award them a penalty for a late challenge on Stuart Hogg by Peter O’Mahony and Rory Best, which left the full-back with an injured shoulder that forced him off after 16 minutes. Ireland, meanwhile, felt their fly-half Johnny Sexton, who failed a head injury assessment, was singled out for treatment.
“Romain refereed us against South Africa [in November] and we don’t seem to see eye to eye,” said Laidlaw. “We are not going to blame him for the defeat. We look at ourselves and credit to Ireland.”
The Scotland head coach, Gregor Townsend, said he knew where his captain was coming from, adding: “Greig was frustrated the ball did not come back quickly. With Stuart Hogg, when a player has kicked the ball you have to get out of his way and not make a tackle. There were two players involved but play went on. I am not sure yet how serious the injury was. It was a missed opportunity for us. We were really good in the first half but in the second did not execute as well. It was a really competitive match that showed we are not far away.”
The Ireland head coach, Joe Schmidt, said he did not expect Sexton to be out for too long. “He took a stamp to the head and on the ankle. He has a little bit of treatment out there but he seems well now. He takes the ball to the line and, while it is not inevitable that he will be smashed backwards, he is going to get attention.
“It was good to get the victory today after losing to England. It was not the best of games but we spent 34% of the first half in our 22 yet restricted them to an intercept try. We still have to rely on others in the championship, but we will take stock after the next round and look at what we have to do in the final two.”
