Are the Brumbies cheating?
Stormers captain Duane Vermeulen was rather subtle, but coach Allister Coetzee did not hold back in his criticism of the Brumbies' tactics.
Speaking in the aftermath of the 25-24 win over the Brumbies in a spiteful Super Rugby match at Newlands at the weekend, Coetzee questioned the Brumbies' intent in the game.
The Australian conference leaders were penalised 19 times by referee Stuart Berry and Coetzee suggested there should have been a few more yellow cards that the solitary sin-binning – issued against replacement Jordan Smiler in the 54th minute, for a ridiculous wrestle/judo-type flip-over of Springbok loose forward Schalk Burger.
Players have been red-carded for less.
However, what irked Coetzee most was what he suggested may have been deliberate attempt by the Brumbies to use niggling tactics to lure the Stormers into a "dog fight" and distract them.
"They were happy, and prepared, to concede the penalties and made sure we couldn't get quick ball from the breakdown," Coetzee said, adding that the Brumbies stifled any attempt to attack with line-speed.
"At some stage it should be escalated to more yellow cards," an obviously indignant Coetzee said.
He said the match officials should perhaps not be 'coaching' players off the ball, but deal with deliberate transgressions early on in the match.
"There were a lot of occasions at the breakdown that I am not happy about," the Stormers coach said, adding: "I will have to have a look [at the video] and give feedback to the referee, Stuart Berry.
"You can't play a game, stop-start, and just concede penalties."
He made reference to accusations again the Brumbies, for similar tactics a few years ago.
"I refer to what people said in Australia about the Brumbies – a couple of years ago: 'Are you cheaters? Are you cheating? Are you playing on the edge?'
"Again, 19 penalties in a game is just ridiculous."
He also felt they should have been awarded a penalty try for three scrum penalties five metres from the Brumbies' line in the period directly after Smiler was sent to the bin.
"I was really surprised," he said, adding: "They had [just] seven forwards at the time and we had clear dominance and they were deliberately taking it to ground every time – definitely should have been a penalty try.
"They wanted to take us into a dog fight and they had a nice lead," he said of the visitors' tactics after the firs half-hour.
"We could easily have been lured into being stupid by punching [opponents] off the ball and getting into more scuffles, but we held our nerve.
"They were 16-3 up and attempted get under our skins and that's the way they wanted to play."
The Stormers captain, who left the field midway through the second half with an injury, said he knew it was going to be a physical game.
"They're a good pack and a team as a whole," Vermeulen said, adding that it was a real scrap at the breakdown.
"They wanted continuity and we wanted continuity and the frustrations came out – then came some stupid stuff off the ball.
"It might have been a tactic, it might not have been a tactic – we don't know.
"However, it is nice to see how the guys stuck to our game plan and really executed the way we wanted to play."
Coetzee praised his team for the level of maturity they displayed.
"It was quite an important win for us, in the difficult game," the coach said, adding: "We have a break next week and three out of four games at home.
"There is a lot of character in this team.
"I asked for two things, maturity and players to play with their hearts – they showed that in the second half.
"It's special, I must say. To come back from 3-16 and win a game having had one training session [because of last week's Springbok training camp] shows a lot about the team," Coetzee said.
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