Bernard Jackman believes the standard of refereeing in the BKT United Rugby Championship is getting worse with the "shambles" during Munster's defeat to Bulls the latest example.
Munster, sitting in seventh in the table with three rounds to play, can feel justifiably aggrieved as they were at the wrong end of two big decisions in Thomond Park on Saturday as the Pretoria team became the first South African side to win at the venue.
Marcell Coetzee scored their only try but it came after number 8 Cameron Hanekom illegally tapped a free-kick off his thigh.
When replacement prop Stephen Archer, who had come on for Oli Jager after a head injury assessment, was substituted for hooker Lee Barron in the second half, Munster were incorrectly forced to withdraw an extra player, meaning they played with 14 for 14 minutes before the anomaly was spotted.
A similar incident occurred during their defeat to Leinster at Croke Park in round four last October, however, that incident was resolved in a few minutes.
Italian Andrea Piardi was in charge of the game on Saturday and hasn’t been given an assignment for next weekend’s games.
"I think it is [getting worse]. There's rarely a week that I don’t see something in a game that I wonder how they missed that," former Ireland and Leinster hooker Jackman told the RTÉ Rugby podcast.
"Previous to the fiasco with Munster being punished with an extra man off that they shouldn’t have been, I thought the free-kick at the back of the scrum with the number 8 using his knee [was astonishing].
"I heard [Munster out-half] Jack Crowley saying it to him at the restart and I was wondering how that could happen with ref mics and the TMO being able to call in? Do they not know the rule?
"I don’t know if he knew the rule. It’s black and white.
"When Jack said it to him, he didn’t go, 'Jees, you are right here’, he batted him away.
"We had the shambles with the yellow card.
"What we are seeing in the URC is really starting to frustrate players and coaches and supporters, and they are all starting to lose confidence."
Jackman had some sympathy for the referee who could be heard checking with his fourth official that everything was clear before ordering uncontested scrums and forcing Munster to play with 14.
"I feel for Piardi here because he has to trust the fourth official to look after that," said Jackman.
"The fourth officials only have to be experts on the rules and replacements.
"Unfortunately for Munster, it’s the second time it’s happened to them.
"In a game that tight...you would have to argue, with 15 players, Munster would have potentially won that game and the consequences now if Munster aren’t to make top eight, which I think they will, but to make top four looks incredibly difficult.
"That’s revenue, decreasing your chance of getting to the semi-finals, it’s horrendous."
Meanwhile, former Munster winger Johne Murphy also lamented his old side’s misfortune but questioned why it seemed to take their coaching staff so long to spot the error.
"The whole [officiating] team in those two incidences need to take a bit of a rap across the knuckles," he said.
"Both touch judges are AIL referees. The TMO, in particular, the one across the knee, if my son done that at Under-9s, the coach would say, 'you can’t do that'.
"I think there’s a bit more [needed] from the Munster management, that they could have been a bit more vocal about it.
"Two players walk off together; one player doesn’t walk off with a physio. There has to be some level of collective responsibility in all of this.
"Whether it was a mistake by the management, that they didn’t know? Well, they weren’t kicking up a fuss on the sideline for 14 minutes. It’s not a difficult rule. It’s black and white.
"[Against Leinster] Wig [former head coach Graham Rowntree] came down to the touchline there. There wasn’t anyone on the touchline, I’m not dogging the lads out of it but I would question it.
"This has happened already; in Croke Park it took the time for Wig to get from the box to the sideline [to sort it out]."
Munster will be without Jager (head injury) for Friday's game against Cardiff in Wales (7.35pm), while Craig Casey (illness), Peter O’Mahony (tight hamstring), John Hodnett (toe), Diarmuid Barron (shoulder/arm), Gavin Coombes (ankle) and Calvin Nash (ankle) will be assessed during the week to determine their availability.
Listen to the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow a live blog on Scotland v Ireland in the Women's Six Nations on Saturday from 2.30pm on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch a URC double-header, Scarlets v Leinster and Ulster v Sharks, on Saturday from 4.45pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
