Clarke hits out at leniency of referee Wilkinson

Ospreys .................. 26pts Tries: Habberfield 12, Penalty 65, 76, Hassler 78 Conversions: Davies 12, penalty try 65, 76 Kings ........................ 12pts Tries: Makase 20, Willemse 31 Conversions: Du Toit 20

OSPREYS interim head coach Allen Clarke claimed referee David Wilkinson had failed to remember his cards as his side narrowly avoided an embarrassing defeat.

Southern Kings had lost all 14 of their previous league games, and by an average margin of 25 points, but they led 12-7 with 15 minutes remaining before Wilkinson dished out yellow cards to two Kings replacements which allowed Ospreys to score three tries.

The first two were penalty try awards for collapsed scrums before Jeff Hassler crossed to conclude a dire game, but the major talking point was the referee’s leniency.

In the first ten minutes, Kings were penalised no less than six times in the red zone but remarkably no cards were issued as Ospreys became increasingly frustrated.

Clarke said: “I actually think the referee forgot the cards to be honest – and I’m not joking. I think the fourth official came out with them. I spotted something – a transaction, anyway. There were a number of team warnings but at the back end of the game, he finally produced the cards.”

A spokesman for PRO14 said: “It was not the policy of referees to speak about any issues concerning their officiating and in any event, if a referee was not in possession of his cards, it would not prevent him from ordering anyone from the field of play.”

Despite their frustration, Ospreys’ early dominance was rewarded when Tom Habberfield darted over from a 5m scrum and a run-

away victory looked likely.

However careless errors crept into Ospreys’ game with a poor clearance from Sam Davies and a missed tackle by Owen Watkin, two crucial ones.

Watkin was brushed aside by Andisa Ntsila, whose burst set up a try for Michael Makase before Kings stunned their opponents to take the lead when Michael Willemse finished off a driving line-out.

After the restart, Ospreys soon changed four of their pack and it proved a decisive call as props Nicky Smith and Dimitri Arhip crushed Kings in the scrum with Gary Mercer providing huge momentum in the loose.

However, Kings continued to frustrate until Johan Smith (collapsing a scrum) and Eital Bredenkemp (deliberate offside) were sin-binned in quick succession for Ospreys to seize control and collect a fortu- nate bonus point.

For most of the game, they lacked the spark to unlock a stubborn defence with centres Watkin and Kieron Fonotia having poor games and until the cards came out, it was questionable whether Ospreys would have prevented the South Africans from securing an historic victory.

Clarke said: “We need to address our blunt attack as we were very scrappy. We played a lot better last week when we lost but today we got a valuable five points, despite playing poorly and missing a lot of opportunities.”