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21 Apr, 2025
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Mossy Lawler: 'They’ve admitted they’ve made a mistake and we left it at that' 
@Source: irishexaminer.com
The first of those three remaining games comes on Friday night in Cardiff and both assistant coach Mossy Lawler and a fit-again Gavin Coombes said on Monday that the squad had already moved on from the refereeing controversy that saw Alex Kendellen forced off incorrectly between the 52nd and 65th minutes of last Saturday’s game. Lawler declared the matter closed following a discussion on the matter between Munster’s interim head coach Ian Costello and Henning. “Ian has had conversations with Tappe and I suppose the easiest way of putting it is that the officials made a mistake,” the skills and assistant attack coach said. “We chased the decision but we’re certainly not focusing on that. Again it’s not the reason we lost the game or we’re certainly not putting it down to that. Our view is that we’re looking forward to Cardiff and not looking back. “I’m not going into the details of the conversation. They’ve admitted they’ve made a mistake and we left it at that.” Coombes added: “It’s a new week isn’t it, so park that and move on. There was great energy coming into the building this morning. Everyone knows this is a big week for us so it’s been put behind us. “It’s rugby, there’s a lot of rules, you know, and it is hard to keep track of. That’s just the way the sport is sometimes and unfortunately it didn’t work out for us at the weekend. “I think the frustration was mostly on our performance. We had opportunities to win the game, we had a lineout on their five and different attacking positions like that and we didn’t take them, so you always have to look at yourself first before you look outwards… We’re definitely focusing on ourselves.” Coombes is one of four players who missed the Bulls clash due to injury whom Munster hope to have back on the field at the Arms Park this Friday. Ankle injuries sustained in the Champions Cup quarter-final loss at Bordeaux-Bègles the previous week kept both No.8 Coombes and Ireland wing Calvin Nash sidelined while scrum-half Craig Casey and flanker Peter O’Mahony were withdrawn directly before kick-off due to illness and a tight hamstring respectively. Casey has returned to training and O’Mahony’s availability for the Cardiff trip will be determined later in the week, Munster said. Coombes and Nash are also back in harness, though there may be a more cautious approach for back-rower John Hodnett (toe) and hooker Diarmuid Barron (shoulder/arm), despite the province saying their availability for Friday night will also be determined later in the week. Oli Jager is definitely ruled out having failed a Head Injury Assessment during the Bulls game, his removal in part creating the later confusion when his replacement Stephen Archer also needed to come off with a shoulder injury. Referee Andrea Piardi mistakenly took the game to uncontested scrums and ordered Alex Kendellen off the field to reduce the home side to 14 men, not realising that a head injury to the initial front-rower did not require that sanction. Despite the disruptions, Lawler said it would be easy to focus on the game ahead. “Of course it will. We’re in a situation now where we’re fighting for our top eight. We’ve left ourselves…look, we’re seventh in the table, we’ve three games left and two of them are at home. So from our point of view, it’s what we can control. “If we win our games, we stay in the top eight. So that solely has been our focus. The focus in relation to this week is only Cardiff. We know the test ahead of us this week. Our reviews and previews this week has been solely on them.” Munster’s weekly squad update also noted that full-back Mike Haley is set to start reintegrating into full training this week having been unavailable since January due to an ankle injury.
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