Ireland's misery after the weekend's thrashing by England at Twickenham is set to be compounded by the fact that Frenchman Joel Dume is refereeing Saturday week's game against Scotland at Lansdowne Road. Planet Rugby can confirm that Ireland team manager Donal Lenihan is undergoing a crash course at Alliance Francais to improve his communication skills.
Dume presided over the infamous Battle of Pretoria when Ireland lost the second Test to South Africa 33-0 in 1998. Lenihan got so exasperated during that match with Dume that he was moved to shout "referee you're flahing us," which might have been lost in the translation . . . into English that is.
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