Former Springboks head coach Nick Mallett has slammed the officiating during the Stormers\u2019 28-27 loss to RC Toulon in the Investec Champions Cup round of 16.<\/p>\n
The Stormers<\/a> came agonisingly close to a last-gasp winning try in the final play of the game with Charles Ollivon denying Marcel Theunissen after a lengthy TMO review.<\/p>\n That came after John Dobson\u2019s men weren\u2019t awarded a penalty try when Matthias Halagahu dragged down a maul that was steaming towards the Toulon<\/a> try line.<\/p>\n Mallett fumes<\/p>\n Former Springboks winger Breyton Paulse took issue with that decision as he felt that it warranted a penalty try with the French club holding the Stormers up over the line from the ensuing penalty.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t want to blame the referee, I don\u2019t want to go there but the one yellow card looked like a penalty try to me,\u201d Paulse said on SuperSport after the Champions Cup<\/a> game.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a questionable decision, why wasn\u2019t it a penalty try?\u201d<\/p>\n Mallett agreed and launched a scathing review of English referee Christophe Ridley and his officiating team.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a penalty try, there is no question about it,\u201d he said. \u201cBreyty is younger than I am and needs the job longer than I do. So I can honestly say that is a penalty try.<\/p>\n \u201cCollapsing the maul a metre from the line to stop a certain try, it\u2019s a dreadful decision from the referee and I will go even further with that final decision at the end of the game was dreadful as well. He was on completely the wrong side of the ruck and he said I thought two hands were under it, how could he say that if he didn\u2019t even see the guy go over for the try?<\/p>\n \u201cAdded to that, Ollivon is lying on the ground, he says that he is in the in-goal area. If you are off your feet, you are not allowed to play; you can\u2019t tackle anyone or play the ball.<\/p>\n \u201cThere has got to be a penalty at least. Look, I\u2019m upset for the Stormers because I thought their character and courage were phenomenal. They will learn from this, though.\u201d<\/p>\n While Mallett was fuming about the referee decisions, he added that the Stormers didn\u2019t handle the final moments of the game well as Toulon were also down two men with Halagahu and Ma\u2019a Nonu in the sin bin.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have to learn that there is more than one way to win a game, and they just persisted with the pick and go, and it wasn\u2019t getting them a reward against a team that went down to 13 players,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n \u201cIn addition to that, you\u2019re right in front of the poles. What\u2019s wrong with a drop goal, Sacha? There are ways and means of winning a game beyond pick-and-go close to the line. That\u2019s what the Stormers will learn.\u201d<\/p>\n Stormers player ratings: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu\u2019s sensational cameo falls just short of epic victory<\/a><\/p>\n Dobson\u2019s reaction<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Stormers boss Dobson says that his side was \u2018very unlucky\u2019 with that final decision but didn\u2019t want to blame the referee.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m proud of our team. It\u2019s a tough place to come and play Toulon who are a good team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cTheir attack was wonderful because we\u2019ve got quite a good defence and they got around us a few times. It was great the way we stayed in the fights and I think we were very, very, very unlucky at the end.<\/p>\n