Munster's controversial first half try against Connacht should have been looked at more deeply, according to former Munster flank Alan Quinlan.
Chris Cloete scored moments before half time to take a narrow lead into the break, after chasing down a chip ahead from Tadhg Beirne.
However, many were quick to point out that Beirne himself was likely offside from the cross kick by Joey Carbery. Connacht head coach Andy Friend was himself quite critical of the decision to allow the try.
Speaking on OTB AM on Monday, Quinlan felt that the try should have been looked at more closely at the very least.
"When you look back at the footage, and when I was watching the game, I thought they were going to look at this," Quinlan said. "It should be looked at, and it wasn't.
"Certainly on the replays, and there are a lot of still shots from people online, it looks like Tadhg Beirne is ahead of the kicker.
"Obviously, if that happened to Munster, they would be freaking out. So, Connacht have every right to be unhappy about it.
"Andy Friend spoke about it at length after the match."
Quinlan mentioned that there are arguments to award the try, but both of them were thin and would not stand up to much scrutiny.
"This isn't VAR," Quinlan said. "I watched it back about 50 times, and I still think Tadhg Beirne is ahead of the kicker, but there is a small argument to say that some of his leg was back over the 10 metre line when [Carbery] kicked the ball.
"The big VAR debates in soccer last year were about your body being over the line. If any part of your body is behind the line in this instance, then you are on side.
"Then there is another argument from someone else that Chris Cloete brought him on. The law states that if you are ahead of someone that kicks the ball and are being brought on, you have to look like you are retreating initially, and then you can turn around and run forward."
'I agree 100% with Andy Friend'
After the match, Friend was highly critical of the decision to award the try, and suggested that Connacht seldom got the luck of the draw when it came to 50/50 decisions.
While he did not agree that Connacht always lost out on those 50/50 calls, Quinlan did agree that the decision to award the try was wrong.
"I still think it was offside," Quinlan said. "I think the problem here is it wasn't looked at.
"If this was looked at and watched over a number of times, and then the try hypothetically was awarded, then you'd have to award it finding some evidence that eh wasn't in front of the kicker.
"I think the evidence is fairly compelling that he looked like he was ahead of the kicker. So, it was controversial, there is no doubt about it."
"If that happened to Munster at home, the fans would be in uproar over it," Quinlan added. "I can understand their frustrations, but like any game, I don't think it was blatantly obvious that all these 50/50 calls were going against Connacht.
"There were certainly occasions where things went for them. The big call is the try. They can feel hard done by, that try should have been looked at.
"I agree 100% with Andy Friend on that decision."
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