London Irish coach Toby Booth criticised referee Tim Wigglesworth as his side slipped to a fourth defeat out of five since Christmas.
Coach surprised that just one man penalised after dust-up
London Irish head coach Toby Booth criticised referee Tim Wigglesworth as his Guinness Premiership title contenders slipped to a fourth defeat out of five since Christmas against Harlequins at the Madejski Stadium.
Exiles hooker David Paice was sent off by Wigglesworth in the 22nd minute after throwing a punch and appearing to show dissent, as his side succumbed to a 14-9 defeat to their London rivals.
"I've no idea how (the sending-off) came along and I'm quite surprised that after a fight ensues there's only one perpetrator," said Booth.
"Something appears to have been said and the ref has taken offence at that. Until I speak to the ref and the player I won't know, but playing with 14 men is not my idea of fun.
"As a coach you want a fairly-reffed match between two sides of 15 each and injury-free on both sides - then it's a true test.
"It's a collision sport - you get some good days and others bad, but you can bet your bottom dollar that sometimes it all comes at once - as it did today."
To add to Booth's woes, his star goal-kicker Peter Hewat was forced off after half an hour with a leg injury and Irish now anxiously await news of how long the Australian will be out of action.
"Peter has a medial ligament strain and is on crutches," reported Booth.
"I won't know the extent of the injury until the next 24 or 48 hours."
On a brighter note, Booth was delighted with the way England reject Steffon Armitage responded on his return to Irish colours.
"Steffon wants to set the record straight and prove he is a good player, and the proof of a good player is how they bounce back," added Booth.
"He was pretty good today, carried well and, with a different ref, four or five penalties could have gone in the other direction."
Pleased
Harlequins director of rugby Dean Richards added: "On the whole I was very pleased. The sending-off was obviously very important, but we controlled the game. They put the ball in the corner in the last 30 seconds and we held out."
Richards admitted that his men could have been more clinical against 14 men.
"We had plenty of opportunities, but when you play against 14 men they try harder and sometimes it goes against you," he added.
"We have Gloucester next week, they will have their French and Scottish internationals back, while we will not have our England boys, so it will be hard - but there are no easy games in this league."
