McGeechan unhappy with referee

Ian McGeechan felt poor refereeing cost Wasps a bonus point as the Guinness Premiership champions made a torrid start to life without Lawrence Dallaglio.

Wasps were dispatched 26-14 with final-quarter tries from Tom Rees and Eoin Reddan sparing their blushes on the scoreboard after Irish had amassed an unassailable lead.

But director of rugby McGeechan was dismayed by the decision not to award a late penalty try for Peter Hewat's tug on Joe Worsley which denied Wasps any tangible reward for their revival.

''In the end we could have scored three tries. The touch judge had put his flag down,'' he said.

''When your attacker is pulled back by the last defender, it's a pretty strong argument for a penalty try.

''I don't know who made the decision, whether it was the touch judge or referee, but the advice was wrong.

''We came back well, scoring two good tries and if we had got one there we would have had the bonus point.

''Irish were hanging on at the end but when you have built up that sort of lead it doesn't really matter.

''A bonus point would have been fair reward for our endeavour in the second half.''

Dallaglio retired last season and Wasps clearly missed their talisman, who would not have been impressed with what he witnessed from the sidelines.

''We have to make the most of the times when we have the whole squad together but we didn't do that today,'' said McGeechan.

''It was a sub-standard performance and we're all very disappointed. We conceded a couple of easy scores.''

Forwards Chris Hala'ufia and Richard Thorpe plundered soft tries at the lineout to help Irish register a convincing victory.

But director of rugby Toby Booth was as satisfied by the refusal to concede a bonus point as the result itself.

''If we had been more clinical we could have been further in front at times,'' he said.

''Wasps came back at us and you expect that from them so to show the mentality to shut them out was fantastic.

''We're trying to get tougher in terms of our mindset so to deny them the bonus point was very pleasing.

''That was as an encouraging display as we could have asked for at this stage of the season.

''Sometimes denying the opposition a bonus point is as important as securing yours, so we're very pleased.''