Bulls coach Johan Ackermann struggled to hide his frustration with referee Ru Campbell after Saturday’s URC clash against Ulster at Loftus.
The Bulls claimed a 34-26 victory but, despite dominating the scrums, received scant reward from the Scotsman, who only came to the party late in the game.
“I’m trying to be diplomatic. If I say something wrong, it’ll cost me,” said Ackermann, who said there was “a lot of clarity” required from the referee’s side.
“There were big moments that I felt influenced possession or territory. Maybe it was the occasion, or inexperience at this level, I don’t know how many URC games he’s done. There were two or three grey moments at the breakdown and scrums.
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“Early on, Elrigh Louw was penalised for cleaning out a player who had tackled Cheswill [Jooste], but Cheswill released the ball, got up and went again. Technically that was perfect, and we still got penalised.
“Some of the warnings were not applied the way we saw them. But it’s easy to talk about it now. If we had lost by a point or two, we’d really have made an issue of it.
“Our technical analyst has already marked all the questions we have. One example is a quick throw-in. We wanted to throw quickly, they blocked the ball, and then they went out, came back and kicked it, and it was a penalty. All we ask for is consistency. If you block the ball, you block the ball.”
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For all this, Ackermann never blamed the referee for the Bulls’ hot-and-cold showing.
“At the end of the day we weren’t clinical for 80 minutes, but we also showed a lot of fight. If you play a quality side like Ulster and someone tells you beforehand you’ll get five [log] points and a win, you’ take it, however it comes. So you have to be grateful for that.
“But we have to be much better. Our execution was not good. So many times a soft penalty either released pressure on them and let them exit, or put pressure on us by giving them entry into our 22.
“I felt we had them on the ropes by half-time, and in the second half our discipline was not good enough. We made it quite easy for them.”
Photo: Alche Greeff/Gallo Images
The post ‘Diplomatic’ Ackers questions ref calls appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Bulls coach Johan Ackermann struggled to hide his frustration with referee Ru Campbell after Saturday’s URC clash against Ulster at Loftus.
The post ‘Diplomatic’ Ackers questions ref calls appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
