RUGBY:THE IRB believe the letter allegedly written by French referee Romain Poite to the Italian Rugby Federation last year does not exist. Italian coach Nick Mallet claimed, on the eve of last Saturday's game in Rome, that Poite had apologised to the Italian federation last year for penalising Martin Castrogiovanni in the scrum in the Six Nations match at Croke Park.

Although the IRB are not willing to make a formal statement, The Irish Times was able to confirm that, following a conversation between IRB referees manager Paddy O’Brien and Poite, the French referee denied writing such a letter.

Mallett’s comments may now be investigated, although the official response of the Six Nations yesterday seemed to indicate otherwise as they were unaware the situation even existed.

“For a misconduct case to be taken, attention must be drawn to us formally,” said a Six Nations spokesman.

Poite came in for criticism on Saturday for penalising Ireland and Leinster props Cian Healy and Mike Ross.

Having studied replays of the scrum, and with an eye to avoiding similar problems when the fearsome French pack down at the Aviva Stadium this Sunday, the Irish management are expected to seek clarification from O’Brien on the penalties awarded against the props during Saturday’s game.

Coach Declan Kidney said he intends to voice his concerns about Poite’s interpretation of the techniques adopted by Italian props Martin Castrogiovanni and Salvatore Perugini to the “appropriate parties” before scrummaging against a French pack that forced a penalty try out of the Scots in Paris.

The only route for Kidney to O’Brien is via the IRFU referees liaison Owen Doyle.

Leinster coach Joe Schmidt was asked to comment on the issue yesterday, particularly the difficulties Ross was apparently experiencing.

“Mike Ross, I thought he did really well in tough circumstances,” said Schmidt. “My personal opinion is that it doesn’t surprise me that the Irish panel are going to ask some questions about how the scrum was refereed. It appeared that Perugini released his bind very, very early. It allowed him to free himself to scrummage as he pleased.

“I thought that made it very difficult for Rossy, but I thought he stuck to the task well. I thought he did some good things around the park, which was one of the questions being asked about him.

“Rossy was maybe coming up (in the scrum) because Perugini was up, and I think if you look at who came up first, certainly who released their bind first, you can ask some questions.”