“We can’t have that in our game.”
Conor Murray will have been disappointed that he put himself under the spotlight but Viremi Vakawata has little to be proud of here.
Racing put up one hell of a fight against Munster, on Sunday, as they out-muscled, -thought and -classed them in Bordeaux. They got in Munster’s face from the start and thoroughly deserved their 27-22 victory.
Munster would have few complaints about Racing’s physicality or aggression but they would have taken issue with Vakawata grabbing hold of Murray then going down like a popped balloon when he was shoved by the scrum-half.
The incident was discussed by the panel on BT’s Rugby Tonight with former Leicester and England forward Ben Kay saying Vakawata’s reaction was not that ‘of someone who is genuinely hurt’. Kay believes World Rugby should look at retrospectively sanctioning the centre for his play-acting.
It was around this moment that Austin Healey chipped in:
“Strictly speaking, Murray did hit him in the face with his hand… strictly speaking.”
Kay responded with a left paw that Brian O’Driscoll, who tagged Healey with a few solids on the 2001 Lions Tour, would have been proud of. Healey got a 7/10 for his dive.
"This isn't the reaction of someone who is genuinely hurt…
We can't have that in our game."
Ben Kay and Toby Flood aren't happy with what we saw from Virimi Vakatawa when he got up close and personal with Conor Murray 👎 pic.twitter.com/NXKrhTFT6Z
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) April 25, 2018
Round one to Kay.
