English Premiership: London Irish coach Gary Gold could find himself in hot water with the Rugby Football Union following his furious condemnation of referee Sean Davey on Saturday.

Gold went on the attack after Irish slumped to a 16-12 home defeat against Premiership rivals Leeds - but he might now face a disrepute charge.

Leeds, with flankers Dan Hyde and Colm Rigney in the sin-bin, survived five late scrums on their own line to deny Irish and prompt a verbal volley from Gold.

"The officiating was a shambles and a disgrace," he said. "People's jobs are on the line because of results like this.

"I don't know who is going to be accountable for that, but I thought we should have had a penalty try. When you camp on their line and you've been superior in the scrum all day, what it does it take to get a penalty try?

"The RFU must start paying and training 12 full-time professional referees so they can do the job properly." Gold's remarks will not go unnoticed at Twickenham, where there is a fierce determination to protect referees from outspoken criticism.

Leeds coach Phil Davies, unsurprisingly, took a different view to Gold's, claiming: "They were a big last five minutes for us, and brave decisions by the referee to do what he did. "

Meanwhile, Jonny Wilkinson produced a trade-mark injury-time drop goal yesterday to level the scores 20-20 and extinguish Saracens' hopes of their first away win in the Premiership since May.