Stormers coach: 'We got on the wrong side of the ref'
REACTION: Stormers head coach John Dobson believes the law interpretations in the United Rugby Championship is becoming a major challenge for South African teams.
The Stormers started their Round Two match in Limerick against Munster like a house on fire, scoring two well-worked tries and a penalty to race to a 15-0 lead after 30 minutes.
The stunned Thomond Park crowd then saw a complete reversal of emotions as the red jerseys turned things around, eventually scoring a bonus point try win over the Capetonians, who hardly fired a shot in the second half.
Constant penalties, especially at the breakdowns, against the Stormers played a huge role in Munster’s fightback in the second half. The Stormers were also reduced to 14 men early in the second half when Salmaan Moerat received a yellow card for foul play in a line-out.
“I am disappointed with our discipline in the second half, which is something we talked about whole week,” said Dobson.
“I thought we got on the wrong side of the referee in the second half and we paid the price for it.”
He added: “We really struggled with the [law] interpretations in that second half.
“There was also a penalty in the final third of the field that gave them entry to that try just before half-time.
“I don’t think we got blown away in terms of their pack. I thought we got blown away in terms of conceding penalties.”
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Dobson believes there needs to be more discussions between teams and officials about the laws in the tournament.
“We are speaking to a guy who has refereed a lot of Pro14 [matches]. He is a South African referee, and I don’t know if it’s my place to name him.
“He helps us quite a lot as well as somebody on the current circuit.
“The Sharks had a really tough experience here last week and we felt the same tonight [Saturday].
“Scottish referee Mike Adamson pulled out of the game and we were asked if we were happy with an Irish referee and we said yes because Andrew Brace is really good.
“That second half looked like a different game to the first half. We are going to try and learn as quickly as we can because these teams don’t play fast rugby,
“The play direct and keep the ball and once they get into your 22 it is very hard to stop. We are letting them in there through poor discipline and we need to work out why that is happening.
“I think all the South African teams are struggling with it at the moment.
“In fact, I think we need to have some sort of conversion because we don’t have any interaction with the referees before the games.
“To avoid this trend there needs to be some sort of interaction.”
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