Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Reds fans frothing at hometown refereeing as the Queenslanders fall on the wrong side of a 13-2 penalty count

Tate McDermott. (Photo by Daniel Jayo/Getty Images)

The absurdity of not using neutral referees has once again been called into question after the final match of Super Rugby’s third round.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Reds, who raced out to a 14-nil lead after 20 minutes then went into the break with a 24-12 advantage, were thoroughly outclassed in an open second half and ultimately fell 27-43 to the Jaguares in Buenos Aires.

Regardless of how well the Jaguares played in the second half, however, Reds fans are incensed at the lopsided penalty count, which saw Argentinian referee Federico Anselmi penalise the visiting team 13 times.

The home side, in contrast, were hit with just two penalties.

It was a 63rd minute yellow card dished out to Liam Wright that really turned the game, however, with the visitors entering the third quarter with a 27-24 lead before capitulating in their captain’s absence.

Continue reading below…

Video Spacer

The Jaguares scored three converted tries with Wright off the park, ending the contest and consigning the Reds to a third straight defeat, 27-43.

Reds fans took to Twitter to vent their anger with the referee sharing the brunt of the blame for the eventual loss.

ADVERTISEMENT

https://twitter.com/76_rnw/status/1228842677325549568

The Reds sit bottom of the Super Rugby log alongside fellow Australian side the Waratahs and South Africa’s Bulls, who have both also yet to record wins.

While the Reds have chalked up two bonus points, however, the Waratahs and Bulls have nothing to their names as yet.

ADVERTISEMENT

WATCH: Michael Fatialofa has released footage of his landmark first steps following spinal injury.

Video Spacer
ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

F
Flankly 2 hours ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ The joy, spirit and obstacles of the rugby pilgrim The joy, spirit and obstacles of the rugby pilgrim
Search