Munster have escaped Castres with a 17-17 draw in the opening round of their Champions Cup campaign, but it could have been far different if the breaks had not gone their way in the final minutes. Munster fans had to end the game by giving thanks to a referee who, in a word, horsed Castres with a very poor decision as the clock hit red. In front of the posts, Robin Copeland inexplicably slapped the ball from the scrum-half's hands, only for the referee to give a knock on deeming that the ball had left the ruck.
The game could have been beyond Munster before that, had out-half Benjamin Urdapilleta not horribly skewed a kickable penalty to the right of the posts. Dave Kilcoyne had been perhaps Munster's best player, but he caught up amid Munster's deteriorating discipline and barged his way into a ruck from the side. It was a moment of madness, but Rory Kockott did not cover himself in glory as he sarcastically patted Kilcoyne on the head as he picked himself up from a ruck.
The incident is below, featuring Alan Quinlan on commentary, who called Kockott's behaviour "unsporting":
Here's a portion of the reaction to Kockott's antics:
Rory Kockott is your dickhead of the weekend, folks #COvMUN
— Eoin Sheahan (@EoinSheahan) October 15, 2017
Glad he missed that after Kockott went all wendyballish on Kilcoyne when they were awarded that penalty
— Doug the Prop🏉 (@DougProp) October 15, 2017
Another “Kockott celebrating the opposition’s misery” moment.
— Alex Shaw (@alexshawsport) October 15, 2017
A bit of nominative determinism there, by Kockott.
