Wasps' director of rugby Warren Gatland was so frustrated with the referee Robin Goodliffe after Leeds Tykes staged a remarkable comeback to steal a draw yesterday that he will lodge an official complaint with the RFU.
Goodliffe awarded a stream of decisions against the home side in the second half as Leeds fought back from 27-6 down, and the lugubrious Gatland looked close to tears with anger afterwards.
"I thought it was a disgraceful display of refereeing," he said. "I was flabbergasted with some of the decisions. The penalty count was 23-6 to them. It was not acceptable in the professional era.
"I spoke to him afterwards and he asked why we had stopped playing rugby. I said that he had not let us play rugby, before someone pulled me away.
"Even with the referee, it was a game we should have won comfortably. At half-time, we were talking about not giving anything away and trying for the bonus point. At the end, I was just happy when the final whistle went, because if there had been a couple more minutes, it would have been three more points to them."
The captain Rob Howley said that Wasps' average penalty count was "10, 11 or 12", but that it had been 23 or 24 at Newcastle. "It was the same referee that day, so you have got to ask questions."
The furore over Goodliffe's performance detracted from Leeds's stunning fightback, which was sealed with an injury-time try from Dan Scarbrough and Braam van Straaten's conversion from the right-hand touchline.
After 45 minutes, everyone at Adams Park yesterday, including the visiting coaching staff, must have been wondering how on earth the visitors had managed to be in second place in the Premiership.
Wasps, showing 13 changes from the side that had lost 9-6 at Leicester last weekend, had given Leeds an object lesson. They took advantage of their opponents' limpness to surge ahead through a barrage of penalties and well-worked tries from Shane Roiser and Paul Volley.
With half an hour to go, though, the Tykes introduced four replacements, including England's reserve hooker Mark Regan, and seized the initiative back. They calmly eased their way back into contention with three penalties from Van Straaten, who missed five kicks at goal, before Regan was driven over from a close-range lineout with 10 minutes to go.
Wasps' lineout was falling to pieces, and they were kept pinned back by astute tactical kicking from the wing Diego Albanese. Finally, the pressure paid off as George Harder's muscular burst created space for Scarbrough to dive over in the corner.
"Wasps will be disappointed," said the Leeds director of rugby Phil Davies understatedly. "But credit to my players for the character they showed."
Wasps: Lewsey; Roiser, Abbott, Erinle (Waters 67), Logan; King, Howley (capt); Dowd (McKenzie 61), Greening (Leota 61), Green; Shaw (Beardshaw 51), Birkett; Lock, Volley, Scrivener.
Tries: Roiser, Volley. Cons: King; Pens : King 4, Logan
Leeds: Scarbrough; Hall, Davies, Harder, Albanese; Van Straaten, Hegarty (Dickens 49); Shelley (capt), Rawlinson (Regan 49), Kerr (Holt 49); Murphy, Palmer; Mather, Ponton (Hogg 49), Popham.
Tries: Regan, Scarbrough. Cons: Van Straaten. Pens: Van Straaten 5.
Referee: R Goodliffe.
Attendance: 4,475.
