Marius van der Westhuizen (Gallo)

• The Pumas were left heartbroken on Friday night after conceding three tries in 10 minutes to go down to the Stormers.
• The refereeing of Marius van der Westhuizen has been a talking point. 
• The Stormers’ winning try came off a pass that many believed should have been ruled ‘forward’. 

It was so very close to being a
night to remember for the Pumas, but it ended in heartache as the
underdogs fell at the final hurdle to go down 42-37 to
the Stormers in Nelspruit on Friday night. 

The Pumas, for the majority of the contest, were
superior to their more fancied opposition in all departments and it reflected
on the scoreboard as they opened up a 37-14 lead after an hour. 

Three Stormers tries in the last 10 minutes,
however, secured a stunning comeback win for the Capetonians as the Pumas ran
out of puff with their lack of experienced depth exposed. 

Stormers coach John Dobson admitted that the
result was a “burglary” by
his side, while Pumas boss Jimmy Stonehouse said it felt as if “somebody
had died” in the Pumas changeroom in the moments following the final
whistle. 

An injury to Pumas flyhalf Eddie Fouche didn’t help
the hosts. 

One of the form players in Super Rugby Unlocked so
far, Fouche was left screaming in agony after buckling under a cleanout from
Salmaan Moerat and Chris van Zyl at a breakdown. 

Stonehouse confirmed to Sport24 on Saturday morning
that scans had still not been done on Fouche, but it is suspected that he may
have dislocated his hip and his season could very well be over. 

One of the major talking points during and after
the match, however, was the standard of the refereeing.

Marius van der Westhuizen, one of the country’s
more experienced referees, was the man with the whistle. 

The majority of the confusion lies in the blowing
of the laws at the breakdown, where referees are now encouraged to be even
stricter on infringements – on attack and defence – and penalise players
swiftly in an effort to speed up play. 

The moment that buried the Pumas on Friday night,
however, came from open play when Stormers replacement lock JD Schickerling
released Warrick Gelant for what would be the match-winning try towards the end
of the contest. 

The pass was sent upstairs to AJ Jacobs for TMO
inspection and looked like it may have been forward, but it was decided that
the try would stand. 

Stonehouse felt naturally aggrieved at the call and
while he said he sympathised with referees, particularly given the breakdown law
changes, he said the consequences of being on the wrong side of such “50/50” decisions hurt the smaller unions. 

“I want to make it very clear that I know it’s
tough for the referees at the moment, especially at breakdowns,” said
Stonehouse. 

“But we just ask that they be consistent.

“It might be tough for the referees, but it’s
also tough for us. For us, results like last night [Friday] can be the
difference between securing a sponsorship or not … it’s about the players’
futures.

“I don’t want to come across negatively and,
as I said, I understand that it’s tough for the referees, but we do need to
work together to find some consistency.”

While Schickerling’s pass was naturally the call
that stood out given that it resulted in the winning score, Stonehouse also
pointed to the breakdown and not always understanding the decisions that were
taken in that area. 

It was a tough pill to swallow for the Pumas, who
had done everything right up until the last 10 minutes, but Stonehouse said he
was largely pleased with the efforts of his players. 

“It wasn’t nice for us, but the biggest thing
is that the players now know they can do it against the bigger unions will all
of the resources,” he said. 

“You need to have that depth at this level and
that’s what we don’t have. The players off the bench must know how important it
is for them to come on and do their job, otherwise we’re going to get smacked.

“In terms of effort, I couldn’t ask any more
… the guys played their hearts out.”

Rugby Australia chairperson Hamish McLennan.

Rugby Australia chairperson Hamish McLennan says South Africa’s withdrawal from the Rugby Championship is ‘disappointing and surprising”.

The world champions pulled out of the four-nations event last week, citing concerns over player welfare as the main reason.

“We’ll find a way through it,” McLennan told reporters at the launch of Australia’s indigenous jersey.

“We were surprised because South Africa did agree to the tournament and the scheduling so we were disappointed that they pulled out.

“It will cost us quite a lot of money but we’ll find a way through it… we’ve proven so far that we’re a pretty resilient organisation.”

McLennan said they would not claim any sort of compensation from SA Rugby for pulling out but he did find the decision puzzling.

“I think it was obvious that [the competition] was good for everyone,” the rugby boss stressed.

“If you look at South Africa, their top players won’t have played Test rugby for 20 months when the (British and Irish) Lions come through next year.

“We would have given them ample time to prepare for the Tests, we’ve already got the Argentinians out here at the moment and they are quite satisfied with how their preparations are going. So we were a little perplexed but we’ll have to move on …”

Revised Rugby Championship draw:

31 October – Australia v New Zealand at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium

7 November – Australia v New Zealand at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium

14 November – New Zealand v Argentina at Sydney’s Bankwest Stadium

21 November – Australia v Argentina at Newcastle’s McDonald Jones Stadium

28 November – Argentina v New Zealand at Newcastle’s McDonald Jones Stadium

5 December – Argentina v Australia at Sydney’s Bankwest Stadium

– Compiled by Sport24 staff

Ruan Pienaar sustained a serious knee injury

• Cheetahs coach Hawies Fourie hailed his side’s narrow Super Rugby Unlocked win over the Bulls as a great achievement given the adversity they’ve had to face over the past few weeks.
• To compound matters, skipper Ruan Pienaar cried off early in the game with a serious knee injury.
• Bulls mentor Jake White lamented his team’s poor discipline but was still proud of their comeback.

Despite the narrow two-point winning margin, Hawies Fourie, the Cheetahs’ head coach, believes his charges’ 19-17 victory over the much-fancied Bulls in their Super Rugby Unlocked meeting in Bloemfontein on Friday night was a pretty momentous achievement.

Except for the disappointment of SA Rugby’s decision on their PRO Rugby future, the franchise had to contend with several other disruptions.

Firstly, former Free State Rugby Union vice-president Cedric Carson passed away before the team was further rocked by the deaths of Tumi Morakile and Eldar Mofo, who were involved in a major vehicle accident on their way home from last weekend’s win over the Pumas.

And, to compound matters, the Cheetahs saw their skipper and former Springbok halfback Ruan Pienaar taken off in the first half with what is feared to be a season-ending knee injury.

“When you take into account all the negative things that happened to us over the past two to three weeks as well as the sad news we had to deal with too, this was an unbelievable team effort,” Fourie said afterwards.

“I’m really proud of this effort. We knew that we could win this game and we consequently backed ourselves. It was never in doubt even though it was quite close at the end. We kept our composure.”

The result is indeed a major statement of intent from the Cheetahs, not only in terms of the symbolism that it represents in terms of being snubbed for the Super Rugby franchises for PRO Rugby but also that they can more than hold their own against that full-strength opposition.

“For the past few seasons, we never got to play South African derbies against the best teams in the country. We always want to measure ourselves against the best,” said vice-captain Junior Pokomela, who’ll now be elevated to the main role following Ruan Pienaar’s injury.

“Having the Springboks present is great. We want to prove a point as players to these guys and show that we can compete. It’s a blessing to play against them.”

Meanwhile, Jake White, the Bulls’ director of rugby, lamented his team’s poor discipline, particularly in the second and third quarters, though he praised their character in finishing strongly.

“We conceded too many penalties consecutively. We let the Cheetahs get out of their half and then they basically got into ours,” he said. 

“I’m quite proud of the way we came back but the work-on is that we need to be more disciplined. We’ll also need to take our opportunities, like when (replacement flyhalf) Chris Smith had a chance to tie the game with his conversion.”