‘I want Edinburgh to be refereed fairly’, says frustrated Cockerill

By Adam Ellis
Richard Cockerill bemoaned the officiating in his side’s 28-8 defeat to Scarlets at Parc y Scarlets, but did concede the decision to send off prop Carlo Rizzo was justified.
Rizzo was shown a red card on 46 minutes when a high tackle saw his shoulder strike the head of opposition scrum-half Gareth Davies, yet it was referee John Lacey’s decisions to award two tries to the Scarlets which drew anger from the Edinburgh coach after the match.
“I thought we were a bit unfortunate at times, because I thought the second try was crossing all day long,” Cockerill told Edinburgh News.
“I don’t know why the referee didn’t go to the TMO because we were live on television. Unfortunately, because it’s Edinburgh, it doesn’t get checked.
Not happy with Gareth Davies’ try which took the Scarlets lead to 14-0 upon conversion, Cockerill was further alienated by referee John Lacey’s decision for the third of four tries Edinburgh would end up conceding.
“I also thought the third try was a forward pass by a mile and the players are saying the player is in touch when he passes it.
“I just want us to be treated fairly. We are supposed to lose and that is how I felt we were refereed. That is disappointing because John Lacey is an international referee and I expect him to referee better than that.
“I want Edinburgh to be refereed fairly and I didn’t think we were refereed fairly.”
Edinburgh’s strong start under the former Leicester Tigers and Toulon coach has been undone in their last two games in the PRO14, being rocked by a shock defeat to Benetton last week and now their shortcomings against the reigning champions.