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Umaga bemoans referee leniency after Treeby tackle
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Tana Umaga bemoaned the leniency of referee Jaco van Heerden and TMO Shaun Veldsman after Shaun Treeby escaped a yellow card for a tackle that knocked out Blues' fly-half Piers Francis.
Stormers centre Treeby caught Francis on the chin with a swinging arm in the second half of Friday's Super Rugby clash at Newlands, and the resulting concussion makes him a major doubt for next week's match against the Chiefs.
Van Heerden and Veldsman reviewed the incident and opted to only award a penalty, rather than sending the Treeby to the sin bin.
It was a decision that frustrated Blues coach Umaga and he will seek further clarification on why no further action was taken.
"From what's happened in previous games you probably could say [it deserved a yellow card]," Umaga said.
"We've just got to deal with decisions that are made on the field.
"We knew going into this game the South African referees had been giving away a lot of yellow cards, and cards in general, so we talked a lot about being disciplined and we would expect that consistency throughout the whole game.
"I've got to go through the right channels in terms of reporting back - that's what we'll do to make sure we get some answers to some of the questions we have.
"There were some tough calls that we felt went against us but that's the way it goes."
To add insult to injury the Blues finished the match with 14 men after Matt Duffie was shown two yellow cards as they were beaten 30-22 by the Stormers.
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I’ve seen an improvement in both.
Go to commentsFrance using the 7-1, England using the 6-2, Ireland and Scotland have used it a few times as well and many nations are starting to adopt it. The reality is the game is changing. Administrators have made it faster and that is leading to more significant drop offs in the forwards. You have 2 options. Load your bench with forwards or alter your player conditioning which might mean more intense conditioning for forwards and a drop off in bulk. The game can still be played many ways. Every nation needs to adapt in their own way to suit their strengths. France have followed the Springbok model of tight forwards being preferred because it suits them. They have huge hunks of meat and the bench is as good as the starters so why not go for it? The Springboks have also used hybrids like Kwagga Smith, Schalk Britz, Deon Fourie, Franco Mostert and others. England are following that model instead and by putting 3 loosies there who can do damage in defence and make the breakdown a mess in the final quarter. It worked well against Wales but will be interested to see how it goes going forward against better opposition who can threaten their lineout and scrum. All the talk around bench limitations to stop the 7-1 and 6-2 for me is nonsense. Coaches who refuse to innovate want to keep the game the same and make it uniform and sameness is bad for fans. The bench composition adds jeopardy and is a huge debate point for fans who love it. Bench innovations have not made the game worse, they have made it better and more watchable. They challenge coaches and teams and that’s what fans want. What we need now is more coaches to innovate. There is still space for the 5-3 or even a 4-4 if a coach is willing to take it on and play expansive high tempo possession-based rugby with forwards who are lean and mean and backs who are good over the ball. The laws favour that style more than ever before. Ireland are too old to do it now. Every team needs to innovate to best suit their style and players so I hope coaches and pundits stop moaning about forwards and benches and start to find different ways to win.
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