BLOWN AWAY: Ref calls sting Stormers v Edinburgh at the Hive
The Stormers dropped to laaste plek on the United Rugby Championship standings after Saturday’s stinging 38-7 loss to Edinburgh at the Hive Stadium.
Although the scoreline reads like a game where the Kaapse span was never innie mix, questions have to be raised about the officiating, with the Stormers getting hewig gestraf at the breakdown and in the scrums by referee Ben Whitehouse.
Coach John Dobson’s manskappe will feel pretty hard done-by after two big second-half decisions went against them.
Back-to-back tries by Patrick Harrison and Man of the Match Ben Muncaster put the Kapenaars on the back foot, before Ruhan Nel scored what would turn out to be the Stormers’ only try of the game in the 31st minute to make it 14-7 at the break.
It’s then when the first match-changing decision went against them when Stormers winger Leolin Zas thought he’d given the Cape side hope of a comeback when he crossed the chalk in the 44th minute from a JD Schickerling turnover.
But the try was waved off as Whitehouse and TMO Tom Spurrier awarded Edinburgh a penalty because Schickerling illegally ripped the ball away in a tackle.
The second big moment happened on the hour mark when Darcy Graham scored in the right corner for Edinburgh. Although TV replays clearly showed the winger dropped the ball, the try got rewarded to put the Scots 21-7 up.
The Stormers had to start chasing the game, but handling errors and weird ref calls just couldn’t give them a break.
Heads started to drop... and even more so when flyer Angelo Davids knocked the ball in the in-goal area from a perfectly placed grubber by fullback Warrick Gelant.
Edinburgh, who had never before beaten the Stormers in three previous meetings, then started to capitalise as lock Grant Gilchrist scored to put the home side up 28-7.
Ross Thompson’s slotted a penalty with five minutes to go (31-7) before Muncaster added to his first-half score in the 79th minute to send the Kapenaars packing.