Rugby: Bitter Baillie vents anger over delayed punishment which let Ospreys off the hook

GLASGOW have criticised the timing of the decision to hand the Ospreys a four-point penalty for next season's Magners League in the wake of their semi-final defeat against the Welsh region.

The Warriors were beaten 20-5 at the Liberty Stadium on Friday night just a day after their hosts were punished for failing to fulfil their fixture at Ulster on 19 March. The Ospreys were hit with a 100,000 fine and the four-point deduction.

If the deduction had been applied to this season's standings the Warriors would have finished in second place and secured home advantage for their last-four clash.

But with there being so little time to reschedule the tie it was decided that the deduction should be carried over into next season.

Glasgow chief executive Kenny Baillie said: "The timing of the decision has affected our ability to get to the final – two days out from the play-offs – it meant it would be impossible to change things at the last minute.

"It's frustrating and that's an understatement. I think home advantage could have been crucial. Those four points would have meant we would have been at home. I would have expected Firhill to be near capacity and that result could have been completely different."

Baillie has written to the Magners League and the independent disciplinary panel to register his criticism of the procedure, and has not ruled out an official protest. "We need to think about what we do now. It won't make any difference to this game, and everyone recognises that it was next to impossible to make a decision affecting these semi-finals at a hearing just two days before, but the fact is the timing has cost us a home tie. The hearing should have been earlier."