WHAT THE REF? Edinburgh decisions puzzle Stormers
John Dobson and his Stormers were dik disappointed with some of the calls made by referee Ben Whitehouse and his officials in Saturday’s 38-7 defeat to Edinburgh.
The Stormers were so frustrated with the ref, that Dobson believes it had a big impact on their performance on the day.
The Kapenaars conceded a hele 24 points in the second half at the Hive Stadium after trailing 14-7 at the break to end their three-week tour of Europe on the ultimate low.
Dobson explains: “I don’t think it [issues with the officiating] is limited to me.
“I thought right from the start we were under pressure and ill-discipline put us under that [early] pressure...
“For a long period after that I thought we were dominating the game and got that score before half-time which made us really confident.”
Of being on the wrong side of Whitehouse’s whistle, Dobson says: “I could go on [about it], but I’ll keep it in-house... We started making mistakes and then we got frustrated.”
Of Leolin Zas’ disallowed try in the 44th minute, he adds: “I don’t know [why he] went back [to TMO] for that. A breakdown in the middle of the field – clearly scraped back by them on the ground [before JD Schickerling’s was penalised and the try was disallowed] and then ending up with a lineout in our 22...”
The coach, though, adds: “[After] 38-7, we’ve got to take responsibility and it’s hard to blame someone else, but there was quite a bit of damage done.”