Wales coach Warren Gatland says he has asked referees’ chief Joel Jutge for “clarification” about scrum penalties awarded against them during their 23-15 Six Nations victory against Italy.
Gatland was unhappy with the decisions made by Irish referee John Lacey.
Prop Paul James, who is replaced by Gethin Jenkins in the side to face Ireland, was penalised at the scrum.
“We were disappointed with a couple of early penalties against us and we have had a look at it,” said Gatland.
“We have sent it [a report] off to Joel Jutge just to get some clarification because it stopped a bit of momentum for us in the first half.
“Paul James was penalised a couple of times and I have gone through and looked at the tape [and] thought he was pretty unlucky.
“We had a couple of line-out penalties against us for guys coming in at the side and we felt they were legitimate as well.
“So we just want a bit of clarification.”
Frenchman Jutge, a former international referee, is now the International Rugby Board’s High Performance Match Official Manager.
While Gatland wants some of the decisions made against the Wales scrum explained, he admits it was not as dominant as he expected against Italy.
“We had a couple of scrums where we haven’t been brilliant, but again we have worked on that and hopefully it will be good for this weekend,” said the New Zealander.
Meanwhile, Gatland is under no illusions about the challenge facing his Wales side against an Ireland outfit fresh from a convincing 28-6 win against Scotland.
New Ireland coach Joe Schmidt, who won the Heineken Cup twice with Irish province Leinster, has built his side around the Dublin-based outfit.
But Gatland says he is looking at how George North’s current club Northampton Saints beat Leinster in the Heineken Cup.
Leinster thumped the Saints 40-7 at Franklin’s Gardens in December before North and company recorded a rare 18-9 victory in Dublin in the return fixture.
“If you are looking at any blueprints to play Ireland, I am looking at a club game,” said Gatland.
“The Northampton games against Leinster in the Heineken Cup where Northampton were embarrassed at home by Leinster.
“They turned it around the next week, being direct and physical, by winning in Dublin.
“It’s a reasonable blueprint for us to follow in terms of the way we need to play against Ireland.”
