Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan has described comments attributed to the referee of this weekend's Six Nations match against France as "bang out of order" but insists he has no fears going in to the game after meeting Steve Walsh last night.
Walsh, who was running the line for the Ireland win over Wales in Cardiff, reportedly told a member of the Welsh coaching staff that he would not let Ireland away with some of their defensive measures employed in the Millennium Stadium.
Wales felt that they could have had a penalty try on one or more occasions and were aggrieved that referee Kelvin Deaker did not sin-bin an Irish player at any stage.
Wales assistant coach Nigel Davies subsequently claimed Walsh told the home side he would be vigilant of Ireland's tactics come Sunday's match.
"The referee did call on a couple of occasions for (Irish) players to move away - but when they didn't move away he didn't react," Davies said. "I think he must have left his yellow card in the changing room.
"Steve (Walsh) said to one of the coaches after the game that he will be very mindful of that area next week, after seeing Ireland in that first half."
Announcing his team to face France today O'Sullivan said that while he thought Walsh should have spoken to him first, rather than the Welsh, he did not think the comments were malicious and laid much of the blame for the controversy at the door of the Welsh camp.
"He was bang out of order in what he said, to anybody, other than ourselves," said O'Sullivan. "If he had an issue, he should have spoken to me, which he did.
"In his defence, I think he has been hung out to dry by the Welsh assistant coach (Davies). I presume, any discussions he had with the Welsh were in confidence. I don't think he expected them to go running to Planet Rugby with it.
"The disappointing thing is that Wales are now blaming the referee for losing the game on Sunday, but that's their spin on it."
O'Sullivan met with Walsh last night and they looked back on a video of some of the incidents which were in dispute. According to the Ireland coach, the New Zealand referee admitted he was wrong in some of his original assessments.
"We went through the issues he perceived to be there. In retrospect, he said that, on mature reflection, when he looked at the tape, that there were not the same issues there at all, and that he probably read it wrong at the time.
"We have a very clear picture of what he wants next weekend and I don't have any problems going forward, we've cleared the air," added O'Sullivan.
Walsh is no stranger to Irish rugby fans having previously had a much publicised run in with Shane Horgan during the 2005 Lions tour, which eventually led to an IRB suspension for verbally abusing the winger.
Problems also arose with Walsh at the 2003 World Cup where he clashed with former English fitness trainer Dave Reddin in Australia.
