Bulls boss not happy with yellow card
REACTION: Pote Human is another coach questioning a referee’s crucial decisions after the Bulls 21-23 defeat to the Blues on Saturday.
Fresh from a bye, the Bulls were desperate to record their first win of the season at Loftus Versfeld.
Unfortunately for Pote Human’s men, a late penalty by Blues flyhalf Otere Black snapped a win for the visitors.
The Pretoria-based franchise, already struggling with their overall form, finally managed to score two tries in torrential conditions.
While, another factor aiding the less than entertaining encounter, was a number of contentious refereeing decisions.
Bulls lock Andries Ferreira and captain Burgen Odendaal both were yellow-carded by referee Marius van der Westhuizen.
Ferreira for taking a player in the air at a line-out, when he attempted to sack a potential maul, and captain Odendaal sent to the sin bin for a high tackle when the Blues player had bent over almost double as the centre charged at him – offering only his head as a target.
Speaking after the match, Human did admit that their lack of discipline was costly however he had a difficult time accepting Odendaal’s yellow card during the Round four fixture.
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“I thought it was a really tough call on Burger [Odendaal]. I really thought the Blues player bent down into the tackle,” he said.
“It was a great tackle. Nobody was injured or anything- certainly a tough one on us.
“It’s difficult but the referee is the sole judge and we have to respect that and play according to him,”
In contrast to his coach, captain Burgen Odendaal said he is just happy to escape with yellow.
“In the moment I felt fine but as soon as I saw the replay, I knew I was in trouble,” the Bulls centre said.
“I think in the end, they wanted to give me a red card but because [ Emoni Narawa] ducked down they changed it to a yellow. I’m just thankful for the yellow,”
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The Bulls managed to salvage a losing bonus point, but still found themselves at the bottom of the South African conference and second from the bottom of the overall standings above the Waratahs after their winless run.
“The log standing will always be on the back of your mind‚ but there’s still a long way to go in the competition.
“Unfortunately we lost a home game and we have to rectify some of the mistakes for next weekend,” Human said.
“I think our set-piece was good, we scrummed them, and we mauled them. We just have to get our discipline right and get the guys up again because this defeat is a tough one,”
The Bulls will face the Jaguares at Loftus Versfeld next weekend.
By Leezil Hendricks
@leezil07
@rugby365com
