Wales
Gethin Jenkins is being singled out say Welsh
ESPN Staff
March 12, 2014
Gethin Jenkins is shown the yellow by referee Romain Poite, England v Wales, Six Nations, Twickenham, March 9, 2014
Romain Poite runs out of patience with Gethin Jenkins © Getty Images
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After Gethin Jenkins claimed he had been picked on by referee Romain Poite after he as yellow carded against England, Wales' forwards coach Robin McBryde weighed in with a view Jenkins was being singled out by referees in general.

"My concern is there's a pre-conception out there, a perceived idea with Gethin," McBryde said. "I am concerned that we have obviously fallen the wrong side Poite."

Jenkins, who has now been sin-binned in consecutive Six Nations matches, was repeatedly penalised by Poite, who also warned him twice for not pushing straight, before being carded. Jenkins declined to returned after his ten minutes on the side because he felt he was being singled out.

McBryde backed that view. "The unfortunate thing is that one man has been singled out," he said. "Everyone could see the dejection on Gethin's face when he came off, he didn't know what else he could have done. He's vastly experienced, he's been there with the British and Irish Lions, he's been there with the Wales.

"Certain players are highlighted and their name has been bandied about with regards to what referees should be looking at. I don't necessarily agree with that because each scrum is different. You can't go into a game with a pre-conceived idea and I hope that wasn't the case on Sunday."

McBryde did admit that some of the blame rested in the Welsh camp for not adapting to Poite's interpretation of the rules. "It's very hard for the referee so I'm not going to be too critical of him. We were quite dominant on a couple of scrums and I felt we should have benefited from the decision, yet the decisions went against us.

"The most important thing from my point of view is that we get that clarity, because if we don't get that it just ends up in a guessing game."

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