Cheetahs coach questions penalty count in Nelspruit loss

REACTION: Cheetahs head coach Hawies Fourie said the penalty count in his team’s 19-28 defeat to the Pumas in Nelspruit on Saturday was strange.

The visitors conceded 21 penalties to the Pumas’ 14 in the match.

Their lack of discipline cost them two yellow cards plus a penalty try and ultimately signalled the end of their semifinal hopes.

However, Fourie said seeing the high penalty count at one stage of the game was unusual.

“It is difficult to say. We are not allowed to comment on the referee, but to award 12 penalties to two at one stage in the first half, I haven’t seen that before,” said Fourie

“We are a professional team and the guys know the rules and know what to do, so it was strange to me.

“But we got to accept it and take it on the chin and go on.”

Despite the high penalty count, the Cheetahs were their own worst enemies, making basic mistakes and having a major malfunction at line-out.

“We tried to hang in there, but in the first half we just lost too many line-outs and got penalised at scrum time, so we didn’t have any possession before half-time.

“In the second half, the handling let us down, but the set-piece went a lot better.

“We are disappointed, not just with the loss of the game, but with the way we lost it.

“We are better than this and we got to make a big step up,” the coach added.

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