Blair’s ref rage after Stormers fightback
Head coach hits out over lack of punishment at set-piece as Edinburgh blow 10-point lead
EDINBURGH head coach Mike Blair slammed Irish referee Frank Murphy for not giving his pack a fair crack of the whip against the Stormers.
He felt his forwards were so dominant at the scrum for the first half hour they should have been given more penalties with yellow cards shown to opposition players for constant infringements at the set piece.
As it turned out, their 10-0 lead after 30 minutes was eaten into by the South African outfit that secured a bonus-point win with a fourth try in the last minute following a second-half collapse by Edinburgh.
Blair was adamant that his team could have been more than just ten points ahead if the Irish official had officiated properly at the scrum and they could have given the home side a bigger total to chase.
‘We showed a lot of control in that first 30 minutes and I am surprised they were not penalised more,’ said Blair. ‘We have a dominant scrum, we are going forward, the scrum is going to ground and the referee is saying play the ball away. That does not happen. We should be rewarded for being dominant in that area.
‘Stormers were excellent in their defence and put a huge amount of pressure on our attack and that is where they did well. Our good area was our scrum and I felt it was managed by the ref a little bit to keep the game going when in fact we had a huge amount of dominance there that should have resulted in more points and potentially yellow cards for illegal scrummaging.
‘I thought the Stormers were excellent and the opportunities they got they took. They harassed us with their defence and they have some incredible individuals, especially in the back row, centres and wings. Give them a sniff in attack and they are able to take them.
‘Strong defence, looking to get errors out of you, looking to you to make that extra pass and they all have speed and skill. That is what won them the game although I do feel if we had been given our due rewards for what we were doing at the scrum then we could have controlled the game a little bit better.’
Blair may have been correct in his criticism of referee Murphy but there is no disputing it was the second-half Edinburgh collapse that really cost his team victory.
The visitors took the lead through a Ben Vellacott penalty after just six minutes. Then Mark Bennett had to be bundled into touch when he was about to go over. Hooker Stuart McInally knocked on with the line at his mercy as the visitors totally dominated.
On 21 minutes, the home side had their playmaker Manie Libbok yellow carded for a deliberate knock on. It took eight minutes of playing through the forwards rather than spreading play wide before Edinburgh got the first try of the match through Pierre Schoeman. Blair Kinghorn put over the conversion.
The Stormers started to work their way back into the match and were helped two minutes before the break when McInally was yellow-carded for killing the ball near his own line. A minute later they disrupted the Edinburgh line-out to the extent a big gap appeared in the middle of it, which allowed Deon Fourie to run straight through it to score. Libbok put over the first of his four successful conversions. He also kicked two penalties.
Edinburgh still went in at the break with a deserved three-point advantage and very much in the game but simply didn’t turn up for the second 40 minutes.
Two minutes after the break, hooker Joseph Dweba — on his debut — went over for a try. When Stormers were reduced to 14 men again when Evan Roos was yellowcarded for taking out Nick Haining off the ball, you would have expected
an Edinburgh fightback but it didn’t happen. With 13 minutes left, the home side extended their lead after a wayward pass from replacement Chris Dean was intercepted by Suleiman Hartzeberg, who ran in to score.
Sazi Sandi was harshly red-carded for a high tackle on Jamie Ritchie with five minutes left which gave Edinburgh hope, especially when David Cherry went over for a try two minutes later. Just when they thought they could get at least a losing bonus point, the Stormers upped a gear to score a bonus point try with the last play of the game when Hartzenberg went over for his second score.
SCORERS; Stormers — Tries: Fourie, Dwebam, Hartzenberg 2. Cons: Libbok 4. Pens: Libbok 2. Edinburgh — Try: Schoeman, Cherry. Con: Kinghorn. Pens: Kinghorn 2.