Geordan Murphy charged by RFU with verbally abusing official

Leicester Tigers head coach Geordan Murphy will appear before an disciplinary panel on Wednesday after being charged with alleged abuse of a match official.

Murphy said he was left feeling ‘sick’ after Tigers’ gut-wrenching defeat to Bath at Welford Road, as a last minute try condemned them to a 32-31 defeat.

Charged for conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game under rule 5.12, Murphy will attend a hearing in London chaired by Jeremy Summers.

Murphy took issue with the decision to chalk off a try for Brendon O’Connor in the first-half when Clayton Blommetjies was adjudged to have had a foot in touch.

And after a season which has seen Leicester languish to ten home defeats in all competitions, Murphy said after the match his players had deserved better after their efforts were undone by the officials.

“I still feel sick on the back of the game,” Murphy said. “It is probably where the season has been at. I just feel for the guys who put so much in and to lose at the death really hurts me.

“It costs you when big decisions go against you and there were some massive decisions in that game that we were on the wrong side of again. That has been the case all season.”