The camera of Canal + lingered on Thomas Lombard, his face buried in his hands, when the referee awarded the penalty of the win to Toulon. There was in this posture the disappointment to see the Stade Français, last of the Top 14, being beaten (19-18) in stoppage time on the lawn of one of the best teams in the championship. But also anger, which pushed the general manager of the Parisian club to agree to pick up his phone. To attack the arbitration of Luc Ramos.
"The players had gone back to the locker room, it was deeply unfair," says the former center quarterback. Having a young referee referee a match of this level doesn't help anyone. It was the first time that he directed a match at Mayol, he did not manage. I'm going to be told that it takes a good first time, but I think that when it goes wrong, it's normal to react. "
The action that frustrates him the most? The penalty imposed at the Stade Français in the last seconds after an offside by its captain Yoann Maestri. Which costs him a precious victory in the struggle for maintenance. "We lose the ball, and behind, I see the rest coming ... There, it's fifty-fifty and as a referee, he must take into account the whole match. His decision is not consistent, one has the impression that there are two weights, two measures. "
"If you have to pass for a bad loser, I'm ready"
Penalized 16 times, the Parisians also progressed to 14 during the half of the second period because of two yellow cards inflicted on Gray (42nd) then Mavinga (58th). It was also during the latter's absence that Toulon scored its only try of the match (16-6, 62nd). “In every match, we take two yellow cards, plague Thomas Lombard ( Editor's note: during the last two trips to Clermont and Bayonne ). We want to be nice, but hey… After the defeat at Clermont, we sent 43 clips showing decisions that we didn't understand. We pointed out errors. And these errors count when we fight to maintain ourselves. "
It is the first time since his enthronement in October that the Director General has attacked referees in this way. A sign of nervousness when the Stade Français is last before the reception of two competitors in the fight for maintenance, Brive and Castres, after the three-week truce? Especially since in the Var, Paris was also betrayed by its scorers, who left 14 points en route. "I might pass for a bad loser," says Lombard. But if you have to pass for a bad loser to have consistent decisions, I'm ready. "