Spitting storm erupts after Lions’ URC defeat to Munster

Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen has refuted allegations of spitting against one of his players after their 24-17 loss to Munster in a United Rugby Championship clash last night.

In the 61st minute, replacement hooker Diarmuid Barron went to the referee, Andrea Piardi, saying that a Lions player had spat in his face.

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Piardi immediately went to the TMO, and despite a five-minute search of television replays for the incident, nothing was found.

Piardi explained to the captains that the match had to go on, and if there was an incident, it was now in the hands of the citing commissioner.

In the footage below, it's very difficult to make out the incident (in the top right corner) and there are several Lions players around Barron, so its not apparent who is accusing.

The incident that led to Diarmuid Barron alleging he was spat at by a Lions player

Happens just off camera, but the Munster player makes the claim right away pic.twitter.com/xXjyYQkrJD

Speaking to reporters after the match, Van Rooyen said that he couldn’t see a player doing something like that deliberately.

“Well, we're not aware of it. We didn't see it. It's not in our character to do that,” Van Rooyen said.

“I can't see one of the players doing it deliberately.

“So it's not a case of hiding it under the carpet. If we can find anything or see anything, I think we'll deal with it, but it's not part of our character.”

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Munster coach Clayton McMillan, however, said his side wouldn’t bring up such an incident if they didn’t think something had happened, adding that Barron must have felt or seen something.

“Look, he’s [Barron] been around a long time, and we’re not a team that plays silly buggers, so you’d imagine he felt, or he saw what he saw,” McMillan said.

“In terms of Diarmuid’s integrity, that’s not in question.”

Munster scrumhalf Craig Casey, who, along with Barron, alerted the referee to the incident, said that the hooker’s integrity was not in question.

“No, (I was) just going off what Barronsy said.

To reiterate what Clayton said, I think Barronsy is a very honest bloke in everything he does, so I would take his word for everything.”

What do you make of the accusations? Do you think a Lions player would have spat on a Munster player?