First-half penalty drought queried, but 'no excuse' for loss
“We talked to the ref [Stu Curran] after the game that we weren’t getting reward for a lot of our ruck work, two or three we thought we probably deserved a penalty for in the first half."
Hawke’s Bay 31 (Mat Protheroe, Nick Grigg, Frank Lochore, Sam Wye tries; Lincoln McClutchie 1 con, 3 pen), Southland 17 (Morgan Mitchell, Isaac Te Tamaki tries; Byron Smith 1 con, 1 pen, Jason Robertson 1 con). HT: 16-7
Tribune MVP points: Morgan Mitchell 3, Isaac Te Tamaki 2, Rory van Vugt 1
Overall: Sean Withy 3, Morgan Mitchell 3, Dyal Nel 2, Isaac Te Tamaki 2, Viliame Fine 1, Rory van Vugt 1.
The Southland Stags have sought clarification around the first-half officiating, although coach Matt Saunders stresses it isn’t an excuse for a 31-17 Ranfurly Shield loss to Hawke’s Bay on Saturday.
The Stags trailed Hawke’s Bay 16-7 at halftime in Napier on the back of a 0-6 first half penalty count.
Saunders said for Hawke’s Bay to go through 40 minutes without giving up a single penalty was almost impossible.
“We talked to the ref [Stu Curran] after the game that we weren’t getting reward for a lot of our ruck work, two or three we thought we probably deserved a penalty for in the first half.
“Penalties are huge they get you that territory. He is going to have a look at it and come back to us, not that it achieves anything now.
“That’s no excuse, we still had our opportunities to win the game.”
Southland conceded 10 penalties across the 80 minutes with five of them for being offside, which Saunders acknowledged were unnecessary and was an area that needed tidying up.
Both teams coughed up far too much ball and far too easily in contact in greasy conditions, and it was Hawke’s Bay which was better at capitalising.
“Both sides of the ball we just didn’t quite get things right, we are just not quite there yet so we just need to keep working.”
For Saunders, the positive is they didn’t actually play all that well but still put themselves within seven points with five minutes to play at 24-17, before Hawke’s Bay scored in the final minute.
“We hung in there and when they started to sneak away, we got ourselves back into the game…. There are heaps of positives, we weren’t where we wanted to be, and we were still right in the hunt with one of the better teams.
“It’s fairly positive but as we say all the time, we just need to get better.”
Saunders paid special tribute to the work that assistant coach Daryl Thompson and the forward pack did against a Hawke’s Bay pack that’s known for demolishing teams at scrum time and with their maul attack.
Southland in the past has felt the wrath of that.
“They’ve got a good maul, and they never got a maul try on us. And their scrum is one of the best and we only gave away one scrum penalty and had them under pressure a couple of times. So Daryl and the pack did a great job of sorting that out.
“That kept us in the game effectively, they often blow teams away with their maul.”
Southland now eyes a showdown with defending NPC champion Taranaki in Invercargill on Saturday night.
Saunders said that would throw up another unique challenge.
“We’ve played two pretty physical direct teams and [Taranaki] are a totally different kettle of fish, they play with the ball a lot and have some really dangerous outsides.”
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Difficulty following all of the refs decisions in the first half which certainly didn’t roll our way at all and Hawkes Bay appeared incredibly fortunate with the results .Not saying this would have meant a different outcome but to be fair Southland are a team that could have increased the pressure if they hadn’t been permanently on the back foot
Honest assessment from Saunders.the man in white wasn't leaning our way in the slightest. Bit baffling at times.still good display southland.