Red card was harsh says Larkham

Mann-Rea was sent off in the 64th minute for throwing a number of punches at Stormers prop Oliver Kebble and although Larkham agrees that that his player was in the wrong, he also feels that it was not a red card incident. 

"He should have not thrown a punch," said Larkham. "He is very disappointed and it is pretty black and white when you throw a punch in the law book. 

"We will have a judicial hearing on Monday, but don't think it should have been a red card."

Larkham said the red card took the game away from them as they struggled to contain the Stormers attack in the final 15 minutes.

"They were just too good in the end. I think it was one of those games where it was pretty tight. The red card really hurt us in terms of our set piece – and one less player to defend with made it really difficult.

"Up until that point it was anyone's game. That is what you get in these big games and we always find the Stormers to be a big game, particularly travelling over here. 

"If we had 15 [players] on the field then it would have been tighter," Larkham added.

The Wallaby great was also cautious with his words when reflecting on the decision to award a try to Stormers wing Dillyn Leyds late in the game, even though it seemed the wing dropped the ball over the line.

"We obviously saw it differently, but the Stormers fans probably saw it that way. We will be probably arguing the same if we scored a try like that by saying that the ball was still in contact. 

"It is what it is, they got over the line. Whether he dropped it or not, the fact is that he got over the line," said Larkham.

By Warren Fortune

@FortuneWarren

@rugby365com