DRAGONS COACH WANTS ANSWERS
DRAGONS coach Dai Flanagan said his team were “hurt” by officiating decisions in their defeat to the Bulls on Saturday night, as he called for answers in a post-match interview.
Flanagan’s side put in a gutsy performance at Rodney Parade but ultimately found themselves on the wrong side of a 31-10 scoreline, with World Cup winner Willie Le Roux inspiring the visitors to victory.
The full-back set up tries for KurtLee Arendse and Mpilo Gumede, before Embrose Papier and Johan Grobbelar made sure of the bonuspoint win late on.
Chris Smith converted all four and added a penalty.
Corey Baldwin scored the Dragons’ only try of the game, which was converted by Will Reed, with Cai Evans providing a penalty, but it was not enough to prevent a 10th defeat in 12 league outings this season.
But the Dragons coach, together with captain Steff Hughes, was left unimpressed by the standard of officiating in the game as he questioned decisions made against his side.
Speaking to S4C after the final whistle, he called on officials to “ref what you see” as he struggled to understand how certain calls had been made.
“I can see why my players dropped off potentially in that last 10 minutes,” he said. “A lot of decisions in that game that probably need answering.
“There’s a position where the 15 has got his back to his posts, one arm tapping the ball down, there’s no chance he can catch a ball. If he can, I’d love people to show me a repetition of how you catch the ball that way.
“I’m not blaming the ref, it’s a fourman officiating team.
“He’s on his own in the middle and Rodney Parade is quite intimidating. He needs help, doesn’t he? It’s not his fault.
“The first try, pass before the line, catch five metres after the line, never gets looked at,” he continued. “Again, please justify how that’s not forward. Things like that hurt momentum, hurt teams’ enthusiasm.
“I thought for long periods I really liked what we’d done tonight. We showed great ambition playing from deep, moved the ball a lot, changed the point of contact a lot.
“They’re an outstanding team, good athletes around the park. We knew it was going to take a giant effort to get anything, but all we hope for is, ref what you see.”
The defeat left the Dragons propping up the United Rugby Championship standings.