VIDEO: Dobson's very real and substantial frustrations with referees
Stormers coach John Dobson was as skilful with his answers as Wales flyhalf Rhys Priestland with his kicking, when asked about another debatable day at the office for match officials.
Priestland kicked 20 points as Cardiff inflicted a first defeat of the season on defending champions, the Stormers.
Priestland also played a key role in Cardiff’s two tries with his cross-field kicks creating the opportunities for wings Theo Cabango and Jason Harries to score.
The Wales flyhalf converted Harries’ try and added six penalties as Cardiff earned their fourth win of the campaign and third on the trot.
Nama Xaba scored two tries for the Stormers, with Junior Pokomela and Leolin Zas also crossing. Manie Libbok converted two of his side’s four tries.
The 24-30 loss brought to an end a 16-match streak by the Stormers – 15 consecutive wins, to go along with last week’s 16-all draw against Ospreys.
The Cardiff players were certainly riding their luck on the back of some debatable refereeing decisions.
Just past the half-hour mark, Stormers No.8 Hacjivah Dayimani was at the wrong end of one of those questionable rulings – receiving a yellow card for a head-on-head collision, despite being virtually on his knees.
Despite a late change of referee, the Stormers coach said they did not get the picture they expected, after some pre-match discussions with officials.
Italian referee Andrea Piardi was named as the referee in the formal announcement of match officials in the build-up.
In fact, his name is still listed as the referee on the official website – two days after the match.
However, Scotland’s Mike Adamson was the referee – a change that was not formally announced.
“We sent in some stuff in during the week,” Dobson said, confirming the ‘late change’ of the referee.
“It wasn’t the picture we expected out there,” he added, when asked about Adamson’s performance.
(Continue below …)
“We lost to a Cardiff team that played really well and it meant a lot to them
“Me talking about my very real and substantial frustrations with referees is going to sound like a poor loser – which I don’t want to come across.
“It [the win] means a lot to them [Cardiff] and they did really well.
“There is certainly a lot of stuff we will be reviewing and be in contact with authorities about.
“It wasn’t the reason we lost.”
He also said they had discussions with URC refereeing boss Tappe Henning about some of the tactics employed against their team at maul time – another bone of contention for the Stormers.
“I know he [Henning] is coming out to South Africa, but it is something we feel strongly about – the need to get on the same page as the Northern Hemisphere teams and the match officials.
“I presume you could see how frustrated Marvin [Orie] was getting out there,” he said about the Springbok lock remonstrating with Adamson.
“It is something we will work on again this week.”
The Stormers, back from their three-match European trip, face the Lions at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on Saturday.
They will be without the services of a number of Springboks – the likes of South Africa Steven Kitshoff, Frans Malherbe, Joseph Dweba, Salmaan Moerat, Deon Fourie, Herschel Jantjies and Damian Willemse.
It is not clear yet if new call-ups Manie Libbok and Sacha Mngomezulu would be released after the Bok training camp in Stellenbosch on Wednesday.
@king365ed
@rugby365com
