Officials under fire after ‘spiteful’ clash
SPORTING relations between South Africa and Australia are not at an all-time high and after Saturday’s Super Rugby clash between the Stormers and Reds‚ they were further strained.
The Stormers won a spiteful game 25-19 in which Reds tighthead Taniela Tupou was lucky to be on the field when he escaped on-field punishment after launching his 130kg frame at Stormers wing Craig Barry’s head.
He connected without the use of the arms but unbelievably referee Marius van der Westhuizen‚ who was a couple of metres from the incident‚ and his team of officials‚ failed to act.
There were several more unsavoury incidents as the Reds took Australia’s favourite pastime – pushing the line – to the limit.
Tupou was later cited for his lunge at Barry for an infringement that “met the red card threshold”.
It was another example of weak and inconsistent officiating which left Stormers coach Robbie Fleck irritated.
“They are quite a robust team and it was a bit disappointing from our side that the cheap shots they dished out early in the game were not recognised and dealt with by the referee‚” he said.
“There were at least four incidents that weren’t dealt with‚ so I have to credit my players for staying composed.
“My boys dished out some good‚ hard play in the first half particularly.
“We were clearly the dominant team and dictated most of the game, but execution let us down.
“My message to the players before the game was that there were certainly going to be some cheap shots and as long as we held our composure‚ we would be OK. “And that’s what my team did.” Scrumhalf Dewaldt Duvenage was injured midway through the first half, sustaining a rib injury which rules him out for this weekend’s game against the Bulls. – TimesLIVE