Director of Rugby Phil Davies could not hide his frustration at the pivotal point of the match on the hour at Thomond Park as Cardiff Blues lost 54-13 to ruthless league leaders Munster Rugby in the RaboDirect PRO12.
A superbly taken first half try from Wales international Owen Williams saw Blues trail 19-13 after an impressive opening hour in Limerick.
But a yellow card to young tighthead prop Patrick Palmer - and crucially the subsequent award of a penalty try - left Davies hugely frustrated that the game had not gone to uncontested scrums with no recognised tighthead prop on the field for Blues.
With the numerical advantage the clinical home side opened up in some style and produced a 35-point burst in the final 20 minutes to earn the plaudits of Davies after the game.
However, the Blues boss was still left to rue the decision of the officials over the scrums that he felt set the tone for a disappointing final 20 minutes in Ireland.
“The game clearly turned with the series of scrums after half-time - we were very frustrated,” said Davies.
“We knew before the game that we had some issues at tighthead. Benoit Bourrust, to be fair to him, played with a pain killing injection and he was sore.
“Young Patrick Palmer had not even trained with us and we were grateful to Pontypridd for giving us a permit to play him here. We were already without Scott Andrews and Fa’ao Filise because of injury.
“When the two of them came off we clearly stated that we had two looseheads going on and we didn’t have a specialist tighthead.
“It should have been uncontested scrums. But it was ignored and that is dangerous. The result was the penalty try that turned the tide.
“With the sin bin, you have to say all credit to Munster, they cut loose and we are taking nothing away from them. We toiled away and our effort was admirable; but they were too good.
“It was tough because it’s not an easy place to come and play with 15 men. The effort and commitment was there, but I’m frustrated for the players because we were in the game for long periods and things turned on a misunderstanding with the officials.”
“The try we scored was fantastic and some of our defensive play was good,” he added.
“Our discipline was good in the first half and we knew the referee from past experiences. Our control of the ball in the first half was good.
“But that ten minute period with 14 men finished the game for us. Credit to Munster and also to our boys for sticking in there under huge pressure.
“We have to turn it around for next week. We are not making excuses, but we do know we have got enough in our game to get back on the horse and go all out in that big game with Glasgow.”