Citing official set to trigger disciplinary case after Gavin Coombes allegations

The citing commissioner for the Leinster-Munster game in the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, Scotland’s Peter Ferguson, is expected to initiate a disciplinary case following the allegation by Munster number 8 Gavin Coombes that his testicles were grabbed by an opposing player.Ferguson has a 48-hour window from the full-time whistle to decide whether the incident should warrant a citing, and the likelihood is that at some juncture on Monday the URC will announce details of a formal disciplinary process. Coombes made the allegation to the match referee Andrew Brace in the 39th minute of Leinster’s 24-18 win in front of a 37,000 attendance. Brace referred the allegation to his TMO Colin Stanley, but they could find no evidence to substantiate the claim.However, it is understood that as part of the coverage there is another camera angle – which was not made available to Stanley – that Munster back-room staff, among others, have seen and that does increase the grounds for a citing.READ MOREFerguson spoke to several players immediately after the game, as is standard practice, and Munster head coach Clayton McMillan said: “It’s one of those things that we leave in the hands of the powers that be. All I know is that I back our players 100 per cent that if they make an allegation like that, they wouldn’t do it lightly, and that’s not the sort of person Gavin is, so we’ll see where that goes.”His counterpart Leo Cullen said he had not seen the incident and intimated that Coombes had backed down on his allegation to some degree.“It looked like he [Coombes] had changed his mind halfway through that accusation as well. So I don’t know.”Leinster prevailed against Munster in a fixture marked by incident. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho In clarifying, Cullen added: “Well, that’s the way it sounded, once the scrum was packing down. But I don’t know. Obviously, once that accusation is made, it becomes a serious matter for the citing commissioner. So my comment is not going to help in any way here. But from what I’ve seen, I can’t see anything.”However, it is understood that Coombes fully stands by his allegation and, given the claim was made against one of his own Leinster players, Cullen admitted: “It’s not ideal. Yeah, it’s not ideal. So, you’d want to be very clear if something’s happened.”Ironically, it is almost a year to the day since the Bulls’ hooker Jan-Hendrik Wessels was handed a nine-week suspension for grabbing the testicles of Connacht’s Josh Murphy during a URC game in October last year at the Dexcom Stadium.Murphy’s red card for punching Wessels following the alleged grab before the Springboks’ hooker was cited and suspended for nine weeks on the balance of probabilities rather than video evidence, much to the annoyance of the Bulls, South African supporters and Rassie Erasmus. Wessels’s ban was reduced by only one week following his appeal, and he was ruled out of their end-of-year tour.The match-citing commissioner that day in Galway was also Ferguson.Cullen had not had any discussion with any of the officials about the incident and he laughed off his exchange with the Munster defence coach Denis Leamy, who was previously an assistant to Cullen at Leinster.“Yeah, but we were former coaching mates, so we were just having a very passionate discussion about the game,” said Cullen. “We’re still very good mates, yeah.”Regarding Leinster’s comeback from 13-0 down with four tries to earn a bonus-point win, Cullen hailed his team’s composure.Munster rally to earn a losing bonus point with Ben O’Connor’s try against Leinster from the last play of the game. Photograph: Nick Elliott/Inpho “They’re always unbelievably fiercely contested derby games. Munster, I thought, were good in the contact area, probably a little bit better than us in the first half, both sides of the ball, and obviously they went into a 13-0 lead.“I was like, ‘Oh, is this going to be a bit like it was last year in Croke Park?’” added the Leinster coach in reference to Munster’s win there a year ago.“But I thought the players showed good composure to come back and get a try, and we started getting a little bit of an ascendancy, but then we would give away a turnover.“You had to carry into that breeze. Obviously, it’s tricky enough conditions, the way it looked, certainly from the wind point of view. So you’re going to have to carry; you’re going to have to roll your sleeves up in the first half.Munster cut Leinster to shreds! Shane Daly finishes off a brilliant move. Munster have dominated the first 30 minutes. https://t.co/ghl17YRTnE— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) October 24, 2026 “There was a couple of times we were just a little bit off, gave away turnovers, and that gives Munster life. But the message really at half-time was ‘just stick to it’ and make sure they enjoy themselves. And keep pounding away.Although Munster rallied to earn a losing bonus point with Ben O’Connor’s try from the last play of the game, McMillan’s overriding emotion was one of disappointment.“We didn’t come here to lose and we don’t take any satisfaction out of being gallant losers. To walk away with a bonus point is nice because you look at the table and it’s pretty congested, but it was genuine disappointment in the changing shed because we felt like we had enough opportunities and we didn’t nail them all.”