This one is brilliant, tears rolling down my cheeks I laughed so much. Toulon owner Mourad Boudjellal can expect to hear from the Ligue Nationale de Rugby’s disciplinary officials after making some outrageous statements over the weekend.
Planetrugby.com
Boudjellal was fuming after his side’s narrow loss in Clermont on Sunday and vented his frustration with some controversial comments aimed at referee Christophe Berdos.
“I had my first refereeing sodomy in the [2010] semi-final against Clermont. I’ve just had my second tonight,” he told journalists after the 25-19 loss at Stade Marcel Michelin.
“It appeared to hurt the first time but it was just as bad this time. We will review the images not on Youtube but on YouPorn. Clermont are a great team. They did not need it.”
It’s not the first time Boudjellal has taken aim at match officials. He was in hot water in May 2010 when he lashed out after Toulon were beaten by Clermont in the Top 14 semi-finals when prop Davit Zirakaschvili supposedly knocked on when scoring the winning try.
This time Boudjellal’s anger stems from the yellow card handed to Toulon wing David Smith for an intentional knock on.
Berdos was not willing to reply to the criticism.
“I don’t pay it much attention,” Berdos told L’Equipe..
“It’s complicated. They are comments said in the heat of the moment…I’ve always been told if I wanted to be popular, I shouldn’t do this job.”
Boudjellal shouldn’t expect the same kind of reaction from the LNR, who slapped Racing Metro loose forward Sébastien Chabal with a 60-day ban and insisted he attend a referring course after comments he made questioning the standard of refereeing in France last year.
The Toulon boss wasn’t the only one unhappy with the match officials this weekend. Perpignan forwards coach Bernard Goutta slammed referee Jean-Luc Rebollal after USAP’s 14-14 draw with Racing Metro at Stade Aimé Giral.
“We finished with 65 percent of possession and an [opposition] player on the ground at the tryline who snatched the ball as we were about to score on the final whistle,” Goutta told l’Independant.
“There truly is refereeing at two different speeds – one for the top four and one for the bottom four. We can see this better today now we are in tenth place.”