Blair’s men made him proud but ref left him frustrated
STORMERS 34 EDINBURGH 18
Mike Blair last night said he was proud of his players’ effort against last season’s URC champions but frustrated that Irish referee Frank Murphy did not reward the visting team’s dominant.
“I’m surprised that they weren’t penalised more,” complained the coach.
“We’ve got a dominant scrum, we’re going forward, the scrum is going to ground, and the referee is saying ‘play the ball away’.
“That doesn’t happen. We’re dominant and we should be rewarded for being dominant in that area.
“Stormers were excellent in their defence. I thought they put a huge amount of pressure on our attack, and that was their pinch point.
“Our pinch point was our scrum and I thought it was managed a bit to get the game going when, in fact, we had a huge amount of dominance there which should have resulted in more points and potentially yellow cards for illegal scrummaging.
“It’s not the reason for the loss,” Blair added. “I thought Stormers were excellent today – they took the opportunities they got, and they harassed us with their defence.
“They’ve got some incredible individuals – especially in the back-row, the centre and on the wings – who, if you give them a sniff, they take it.
“That’s the beauty of their game, which is about strong defence and forcing errors out of you and then using their speed and skill to make the most of it.
“That’s what won them the game, although I do feel that had we been given our due reward for what we were doing at the scrum then we could have controlled the game a little better.”
The Scottish side dominated the first half and marched into a 10-point lead thanks to a Pierre Schoeman try, and a conversion and a penalty from Blair Kinghorn.
But Stormers hauled their way back into the game with a try by flanker Deon Fourie and a conversion from Manie Libbock just before the break.
Edinburgh ran out of steam after the break and Stormers secured the bonus point win through a try from Springbok hooker Joseph Dweba and a brace for exciting youngster Suleiman Hartzenberg.
Kinghorn kicked a second penalty and Dave Cherry claimed a consolation try before the end, but it wasn’t enough to secure a losing bonus-point.
That means Edinburgh return home from their two-match mini-tour of South Africa with head held high but with only the two bonus-points they picked up against the Bulls last weekend to show for their effort.
“Let’s not forget that we have played against two quality teams who were the finalists in the URC last season,” concluded Blair.
“These are tough games – they are proper Test match-type scenarios against international quality teams – but the guys are thriving and taking on the challenge.
“So, we want to be proud of what we’ve done, but we also want to be ambitious and challenge ourselves.
“It is fine to be in games, but let’s be in a better position to finish games, because I believe we’ve got the squad to be able to do that.”
Edinburgh host the Lions next weekend and will be hopeful that centre Mark Bennett recovers from the shoulder injury he picked up during this game in time to play in that match.
Nick Haining suffered a concussion so will have to go through the Head Injury Assessment process before he is available again, while Jamie Ritchie has bruised ribs.