Sale boss Philippe Saint-Andre was left fuming by the performance of referee David Rose after his side's loss to Bath.
Meehan hails important win after hard-fought encounter against Sharks
Sale boss Philippe Saint-Andre was left fuming by the performance of referee David Rose after seeing his side suffer late heartbreak against Bath.
The Sharks looked set to seal an impressive win on their travels when they led 20-19 going into the closing stages of the Guinness Premiership clash at The Rec.
In the end they were unable to hang on, though, the hosts grabbing a match-winning try with just seconds remaining through winger Matt Banahan.
Having seen his side fight so hard yet have only a losing bonus point to show for their efforts, Frenchman Saint-Andre pointed the finger of blame at Rose.
Fiesty
The official sin-binned three players during a feisty first half - lock Sebastien Chabal and prop Stuart Turner shown a yellow card for the Sharks while Bath skipper Michael Lipman was also sent off for 10 minutes.
"We were penalised 15 times against five. You want consistency from the referee, but there wasn't any today," he fumed.
"I am so very, very disappointed. When the penalty count is 15-5 against you, it is very difficult.
"We were penalised when we had the ball, we were penalised when were in defence and we were penalised in the scrum.
"We came here to win and to be physical, and it was a fantastic game of rugby. I cannot blame my players - the only thing we didn't do was control the last three minutes of the game."
Frenchman Chabal was incensed by what he felt was some undetected foul play, taking matters into his own hands by getting involved in an off-the-ball skirmish with opposing scrum-half Michael Claassens.
Bath coach Steve Meehan felt the lock had overstepped the mark in what was always going to be a physical contest between two sides at the top end of the table.
Too much
"This was third against fourth in the Premiership, and in games of that importance, there are going to be some flare-ups," he said. "But the action he (Chabal) took on Claassens was too much."
On the result, Meehan added: "That is an important win for us. We are not playing as well as we can, but we have become quite a resilient side," he said.
"In a competition as tough as the Premiership, teams are not going to go through many, many games without experiencing a rough trot.
"If we are going through our rough trot, but still winning, then that is a nice position to be in."
