Meyer: Ref is always right
"We believe the ref is always right." That was Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer's reaction to the controversial try handed to the Wallabies which handed them the victory in the opening Rugby Championship fixture.
Centre Tevita Kuridrani crashed over after the final hooter had sounded and the call went to the TMO, who had several looks, eventually deciding that the ball had touched a blade of grass over the tryline.
But Meyer remained diplomatic in his response.
"It was a 50/50 call and could have gone either way, so I don't think that was a really big thing. I don't think we should have given a penalty away there in the first place, more or less the same ruck as the previous one where we stole the ball but that is rugby.
"It's really really close and the difference between winning and losing. We believe the ref is always right. Hopefully the next time it will go our way and was probably the right decision," Meyer stated.
Despite being on the wrong end of the result, Meyer insisted that he would not have changed anything, in terms of the approach to the game, and even took a light-hearted approach about the situation.
"I would have done nothing different besides asking Polly [Handre Pollard] to score that one and then ask the ref to look at that penalty again. Otherwise I would have done exactly the same. In Test rugby, you are going to lose shape and we were played against the most experienced wallaby side ever – that should at the end – but we put them under pressure and they also made mistakes. It was a great game.
"If it wasn't for that penalty at the end, we would have kicked the ball out and everyone would have said 'unbelievable character.' That just shows you how close the matches are, 30 seconds either way is the difference between being a winner and a loser. It is the same thing that happened last year.
"I thought we played really well after losing our captain early on. We butchered two tries and we should have taken those chances form close range. It's really heart breaking, especially with a lot of youngsters and a lot of injuries. You have to be 100 percent to win games away from home, it was proven before and they came back at the end to win it.
"Victory would have been sweet but all credit to the Wallabies though, they came back in the final 10 minutes," he added.
Meyer remains firm in his belief that the Springboks could have won the game and the manner in which the young players handled themselves.
"We learned a lot from the match and I am still proud of the guys but it's never good enough for the Boks to lose, even away from home. I thought we did enough to win and I really believed we could have won the game.
"The younger players really stood up but in matches like these you need experience. It [the result] could have been different if Victor [Matfield] was on the field.
"I thought we were brilliant with ball-in-hand and put them under pressure but we didn't get any ball in the last 30 minutes. We missed one or two line-outs that we should not have and gave a way a couple of 50/50 penalties," he said.
