Fleck disappointed by Reds’ cheap shots

Sporting relations between South Africa and Auastralia are not at an all time high and after Saturday’s Super Rugby clash between the Stormers and Reds‚ they were further strained.

The Stormers won a spiteful game 25-19 in which Reds tighthead Taniela Tupou was lucky to be on the field after he escaped on-field punishment after launching his 130kg frame at Stormers wing Craig Barry’s head.

He connected without the use of the arms but unbelievably referee Marius van der Westhuizen‚ who was a couple of metres from the incident‚ and his team of officials‚ failed to act.

There were several more unsavoury incidents as the Reds took Australia’s favourite pastime – pushing the line – to the limit.

Tupou was later cited for his lunge at Barry for an infringement that ‘met the red card threshold.’

It was another example of weak and inconsistent officiating.

Stormers coach Robbie Fleck was irritated afterwards.

“They are quite a robust team and it was a bit disappointing from our side that the cheap shots that they dished out early in the game were not recognised and dealt with by the referee‚” Fleck said. “There were at least four incidents that weren’t dealt with‚ so I have to credit my players for staying composed.

"It is something that we can look at in our review on Monday.

"My boys dished out some good‚ hard play in the first half particularly and we got some reward for it.

“I was a bit frustrated.

"We were clearly the dominant team and dictated most of the game. But execution let us down.

“There is not much more to be done.

"I have to let the match referee sort that stuff out.

"During the 80 minutes‚ referee Marius van der Westhuizen had to sort it out.

"My message to the players before the game was that there is certainly going to be some cheap shots and as long as we held our composure‚ we would be okay.

"And that’s what my team did.”

The Stormers were disrupted by the late withdrawal of wing JJ Engelbrecht due to a haematoma on his leg‚ meaning reserve flyhalf George Whitehead had to start at fullback with Joshua Stander coming on to the bench.

Scrumhalf Dewaldt Duvenage was also injured midway through the first half.

He sustained a rib injury and is out for this weekend’s game against the Bulls in Pretoria.

- TimesLIVE

Source: TMG Digital.