High shot on Kitshoff exposes refereeing problems

The refereeing standards of the United Rugby Championship will again be under the microscope after a high tackle on Steven Kitshoff goes unpunished during the Stormers’ 16-all draw against Ospreys on Friday.

Kitshoff made a decisive run in the second half when Ospreys flank Ethan Roots put in a high shot on the Stormers’ prop.

Roots’ shoulder clearly made contact with Kitshoff’s head which lead to the TMO referral.

The tackler stayed upright and made contact with the head.

However, TMO Matteo Liperini with the referee Gianluca Gnecchi deemed there was nothing sinister and the incident went unpunished.

*Article continues below…

The whole affair certainly does not reflect well on the state of refereeing in URC given that Stormers prop Sazi Sandi was issued a red card for a similar head-on-head collision during the Cape side’s 34-18 win over Edinburgh two weeks ago.

Sandi and Edinburgh flank Jamie Ritchie collided head-on-head and referee Frank Murphy ruled that the Stormers were at fault for the 74th-minute incident and showed him a red card.

Consequently, the prop was slapped with a three-week ban with Stormer head coach John Dobson left flabbergasted by the punishment.

Dobson said the disciplinary process needs some revision during a press conference last week.

“Fine, you can go on a Thursday after a game ban [a player] for three weeks, but it’s looking like an inconsistent product,” Dobson told reported last week.

“We should also be going back to other games and other situations and say: ‘That should have been a red card, here is three weeks.’

“Then, at least, everybody in the game understands what the standard is.

“If Sazi [Sandi] is the standard, no problem.

“I think we are losing players and the public with the inconsistency.”