A decision by the South African officials which was later proved to be incorrect may have helped the Waratahs to a 23-17 loss to the Bulls in Pretoria but the Waratahs left Pretoria with their pride in tact.
“I think the performance of the players tonight was outstanding and sometimes you measure your team’s performance by things other than the scoreboard although other people will only see the scoreboard,” Waratahs coach Chris Hickey said in a post match interview.
Asked to comment on the controversial decision which saw Pat O’Connor red carded for an alleged head-butt in the 67th minute, he said: “You can make up your own mind about it.
“Decisions like that need to be accurate because they have a big influence on the game.”
SANZAR put O’Connor through a Judicial Hearing in Pretoria on Saturday and found that he did not head butt anyone which proved that Assistant Referee Pro Legoete was incorrect to suggest a Red card.
Prior to the sending-off the ‘Tahs’ looked in control of proceedings and were steadily chipping away at the lead the Bulls built up.
Momentum also seemed to swing in his team’s favour once uncontested scrums became the order of the day.
Hickey, however, felt that his men could have been more accurate in the opening 40 minutes of the match.
“I think that we did have opportunities in the first half, but we turned the ball over in the Bulls 22 on three or four occasions and against a team like the Bulls when you get that field position you have to build pressure and we failed to do that.”
“We didn’t take those opportunities in the first half and in the second half we also turned over possession in their 22 which led to a length of the field try.
Waratahs skipper Dean Mumm was also impressed at how they managed to match the defending champions when it came to the physical side.
“Certainly the effort wasn’t lacking and I’m proud of the boys on that front,” Mumm said.
“Things didn’t always go our way injury wise and everyone that came on the field stepped-up as well.
“Before the match Chris said that (physicality) is an aspect that we will have to improve to nail big games like that in this tournament.”
With the loss the Waratahs have slipped from a position where they were in control of their own fate, to now having to rely on the outcome of other results to be in contention for the play-offs.
Pity that the Waratahs Red Card was so clearly not warranted, but such is life.
The Bulls are not out of the woods yet, only on 6th Spot on the Combined Log… and 2 MASSIVE WEEKS coming.
The good thing is that the Bulls fortunes are still in THEIR OWN hands.
Gooooooooooooo Bulls!
@ grootblousmile:
Hey GBS, while the send off decision seemed farcical, and the ability of the assistant referee will be brought in to question, the Tahs have only themselves to blame. They needed to convert pressure into points early on; failure to do that ultimately lead to the loss. A bad refereeing decision can and does happen to every side, as we all know, so no tears from Sydney about this one.
The Tahs’ season performance has been riddled with an incredible number of injuries to key players – that’s just the luck of the bounce of the ball. Kurtley Beale’s form has been a stand-out over the last few weeks, which bodes well for the Wallabies.
I’ve said many times before. Pro Legoete is a card happy fool as well as a poor match official.
Club players in Jo’burg hated playing in games where he had the whistle because the yellow or red card could appear for the most innocuous reason and then you end up at a GLRU DC hearing where the ref’ doesn’t even have to appear, and you are basically considered guilty before it even starts. (No matter what the GLRU referee’s society may tell you.)
Pro Legoete was “fast tracked” through the whistle blowers ranks and IMO is not good enough to even officiate at CC level, never mind Super Rugby.
A view that would appear to be justified by his ludicrous decision on Friday evening.
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