Ackermann rues another lost final
FRUSTRATED Gloucester coach Johan Ackermann questioned why decisons were not always referred to the TMO following Garyn Smith’s somewhat controversial score and the sin-binning of Lewis Ludlow.
It saw Gloucester crash to their second consecutive Challenge Cup final defeat, having lost to Stade Francais last year.
Ackermann said: “I’m still flabbergasted sometimes that we have the technology but don’t use it. It was used for a simple try when the Cardiff wing (Scully) clearly scored in the corner, but we don’t use it on other occasions.
“And for the yellow card as well, it was a big decision at a big time, it was their first lineout on the 5m line.
“That is sport, sometimes decision go against you. Somebody had to lose. There are always decisions you can dispute, even that last penalty I could argue that was a ruck and it should have been a scrum not a penalty.”
However despite not getting the rub of the green, Ackermann knows his side threw it away.
He added: “We have to look at ourselves, after the break we lost intensity and our accuracy went. I am not going to sleep well for the next seven or eight nights because it is the third final in a row I’ve lost.”
Wasps-bound Cardiff coach Danny Wilson said: “To leave this group of players is tough. It’s fitting that they got the rewards they 110 per cent fully deserve.
“I’m looking forward to a new challenge with Wasps, but what a way to finish as a group, to come away with some silverware and I think I leave the Blues in a situation where this can be built on.”