Reds coach Richard Graham admitted that he felt ‘aggrieved’ at the manner of his team’s 23-20 loss to the Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday.
A late try saw the hosts snatch a dramatic victory from the Reds who finished the match with only 13 players on the field as referee Stuart Berry issued two yellow cards.
rugby365
The Queensland side had been in firm control of the game at half-time, with flyhalf Quade Cooper playing a starring role, but they were kept scoreless as the Lions roared back in the second half.
The Reds were on the wrong side of a remarkable 19-4 penalty count, which left Graham with something of a bad taste in his mouth after the game.
“I’ve never seen that in a game before in my life.
“It would be fair to say that I felt aggrieved at the end of the match when we were down to six forwards and a back on the scrum and we’re going forward and (the Lions front row) stand up and we’re not rewarded.
“And I feel aggrieved that they throw the ball into the lineout not straight at the end of the game.
“But credit to (the Lions). They are a spirited side and they scrap and fight for everything.
“At 20-6 at half time I thought we had positioned ourselves well to go on with the game,” Graham said.
“However, we were on the wrong end of the penalty count, at 19-4, and the two yellow cards hurt us.”
“I thought we showed a tremendous amount of character when defending our line, but I am frustrated with the result.”
The Reds coach said that after a tough tour they are now focused on bouncing back in front of their home fans when they face the Stormers next week.
“We’re looking forward to returning home to our Fortress, Suncorp Stadium for a run of three home games. It has been a tough start to the season, with four of our first five games on the road, so it will be good to get back to Brisbane and focus on the Stormers.”
swakste rev in sa
Enige span wat 19 strafskoppe kry sal wen. Dan word hy ‘n skeidsregter genoem, ek sou hom eerder ‘n crook noem.
GBS, as jy die lees ek wil graag weet , hoe maak jy n post “sticky” ek wou maar kan nie. Is dit n funksie wat net jy kan gebruik?
I agree, a penalty count of 19-4 is unbelievable…
Will have to watch him from now on…
@ BrumbiesBoy:
Like i said in the Live thread, hope there is not revenge.
The refereeing standard is low, hope it does not become a one for you one for me thing.
2 wrongs does not make 1 right.
The Cheetahs are demanding an explanation from Lyndon Bray after two controversial decisions in their loss to the Blues.
Coach Naka Drotské believes two rulings by Argentine referee Francisco Pastrana – one in favour of a try to the Blues and the other a yellow card against the Cheetahs – cost his side their best chance of a win on tour.
Both decisions came in quick succession after the score was locked at 13-13 midway through the first half and resulted in a 17-point burst for the Blues who raced to a 30-13 lead while the Cheetahs were a man down.
S @ superBul:
Absolutely, and let’s hope that doesn’t happen.
But I do so wish they’d somehow simplify the Laws, they’re so complex and I feel desperately sorry for the refs, I remember Mark Lawrence “complaining” abouts lineouts, for example, in an interview…”There are 11 different infringements I can blow for before the ball leaves the lineout”.
Madness!
@ BrumbiesBoy:
The Laws of the game must be blown and interpretations must be blown out of the window.
Blow the Law. After a few stop start games the teams will adjust and learn to play within the Laws.
But first of all simplify the Laws so that any damn ref can understand it.
TMO,s wont go away. TV is here to stay, but lets get the questions right. If the TMo,s can get a second man in the box and it is then a final decision , then its it. Ref cant come back and follow his own mind, he forfeited that right.
Captains must get the right for one referral per half.
@ superBul:
Yeah, the TMO is a necessity we can’t do without…provided he gets breathalysed at regular intervals!
@ BrumbiesBoy:
why cant someone just bring the ref a tablet on the field? and he can be the tmo. No more stupid questions.
@ MacroBull:
Imagine all the players wanting to have a look in and all the advice. He will be swamped
@ superBul:
no I dont mean he should run with the tablet in his hand all match.
Just use it when he wants to check a try or foul play like now. It just cancels out miscommunications
If a ref has to say to a player in a ruck situation “leave the ball white six”, then white 6 HAS ALREADY INFRINGED and a penalty SHOULD UNDER THE RULES accrue to the opposition..
The same with players in a kick chase. If a ref’ has to say “white 14 stop”, then white 14 has ALREADY infringed.
Perhaps if ALL of the ref’s were to start blowing the rules instead of trying to coach the players, then the serial offenders would stop pushing the boundaries because their team would suffer the concequences.
That Berry has had poor games 2 weeks in a row goes without saying, but in reality he missed A LOT of calls that should have been panalties against a Reds side that were constantly infinging at maul time and were more than a little slow at releasing the tackled player (if indeed at all).
The fact that BEFORE the game started at Ellis Park a whole bunch of media guys were talking about the p1ss poor referreeing this season tells us a lot about the state of Rugby Union.
Even more poignant is that the discussion surrounding the ref’s and TMO’s etc has been going on for the best part of 2 years.
The IRB needs to step in and sort this cr@p out. I really don’t think SANZAR have the ability to do so, but also have my doubts about the collective will of the IRB to do anything.
@ MacroBull:
13
thats the time he wants to be alone, not 30 players, 10 waterboys, 4 kicking coaches …. all watching over his shoulder. He mus red card every peeping Tom
Scrumdown wrote:
I agree, do that and all will adhere to the LAW
The Reds played very negative rugby in the second half. Lions put them under severe presure so they ended up infringing. Both yellow cards were correct. One was given after numorous penalties abd one was given in the red zone on the try line. The try was grounded as it clearly shows on the replay when skosan turned. The line out was the only real mistake made by Berry. People are just irked that the No name Lions are kicking ass and taking names.
@ superBul:
lol thats a gross exaggeration. 99% of the time the ref makes his decision based on the big screen these days. this isnt the 70’s.
so I highly doubt everyone would be peeping over his shoulder. This isnt football.
17 @ Rambo_Hunter_BigBok:
I tend to agree.
A team at home has a potential 16th player in the crowd baying for a decision at times.
The Sharks had the incident when Mvovo fell awkwardly while he was LEGITIMATELY challenged in the air, and the “knowledgeable” Kings Park crowd roared in unison, and Pyper capitulated and awarded the penalty IN SPITE of the replays.
I got the impression that Berry was under pressure, and the crowd was baying for a yellow card for some time prior to when he actually did give one.
The Lions second half performance was spirited AND DISCIPLINED, and I think that was the difference betweent the two sides.
As an aside, I’ve seen FAR MORE ONE SIDED refereeing displays form ANZAC officials in the past, and it was just fobbed off by those living in the region as “sour grapes” by the SAFFERS.
As Pietman said during the game, “what goes around comes around”, or words to that effect.
@ Rambo_Hunter_BigBok:
Ditto,well said!
I watched the replay carefully last,go check the continual scrum infringements by the Reds,skew put-ins by Genia, hooker foot-up,side entries at almost every breakdown,ref was very lenient theb2nd half,imo.
I spoke to Franco Mostert’s b-i-l in Gansbaai this morning; Franco normally a gentle and reserved bloke,but he almost lost it a few times during those last 15 minutes with the Reds playing very obstructively in the red zone.
@ Pietman:
…”watched the replay carefully last night”, G4 keypad again!
@ Pietman:
But everytime the Lions made a scrum infringement, it was a reset scrum.
Maybe the ref missed some things from the Reds, but it was like the Lions could do absolutely no wrong, that is the problem.
I am not sure about the rucks etc, and I know very little about scrummaging, but the way he blew there was completely one sided.
Anyway this guy finally got demoted, along with Van der merwe and the Argie.
Strangely Jaco Peyper is still on the panel.
@ MacroBull:
Look bro’, the scrum rules are a complete f@ckupit, they can never work the way it is being adjudicated by the refs at the moment. I said it during this game and I say it again, scrap the whole thing in its present format, go back to the old way of the first front row to arrive at the mark should pack down and be ready for the throw-in as dictated by the scrummie/hooker of the non-offending side.
@ Pietman:
I recall in one instance in the first half, the reds were doing good, and the lions tight head kept slipping, his kept falling forward, this, for the whole year has been penalised. I think they refer to it as over extending, but Berry kept blowing a scrum reset, I actually blame everyone including the assistant ref for not picking this up.
Some of those calls were not confusing or anything, it was pure incompetence.
But the reds just looked at the ref wrong and they were penalized haha
Fark me I hope the Stormers know it will be hell for them in Brisbane this weekend.
19 penalties to 4 and people want to justify it?
No ways, the fact that it comes one week after he shafted the Blues against the same team at the place makes it even more ridiculous.
@ Pietman:
Pietman,
There was nothing in the second half to suggest the ref was neutral. Yes the reds were doing the dodge but so were the lions. As some have said when the lions slipped the scrum he reset or penalised the reds. I saw ten minutes of the second half live and i could not believe my eyes. He was looking for red indiscretions and seemed to turn a blind eye to the lions.
With his performance it could not be seen as incompetence….being bought one can understand!
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