Deon Fourie accuses Leinster of unsportsmanslike conduct
Stormers captain Deon Fourie has accused Leinster of a lack of sportsmanship for their antics against his side in their URC clash at the Aviva Stadium.
The South Africans ran out 36-12 losers in a performance that director of rugby John Dobson labelled as one of their worst of the season.
Dan Sheehan marked his return with two tries while James Lowe also impressed, making his first appearance since October.
Ross Byrne kicked an early penalty before Jordie Barrett set up Jamie Osborne’s try. Ben Loader hit back for the Stormers after a slick move involving Manie Libbok and Warrick Gelant, narrowing the gap to 15-7 at halftime.
Sheehan then powered over for a vital score just before the break.
In the second half, Barrett and Osborne added further tries, while Sheehan secured the bonus point after excellent crossfield kick from Lowe. Evan Roos muscled over for a late consolation, but it was too little too late.
However, it was the behaviour of some Leinster players at lineouts that upset the Stormer’s captain.
“I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this…but there’s a certain line where sportsmanship comes into play,” Fourie told a press conference in Dublin.
“I won’t mention names who did it, but them running numbers and shouting while we must call our line-outs.
“And then we can’t hear what we must do or react on our calls.”
Despite raising the issue with referee Eoghan Cross, Fourie felt his concerns were dismissed.
“I asked the referee a few times to stop it, but it didn’t work, for me it’s unsportsmanlike and it’s not good for the game.
“Otherwise, this game is just going to be a shouting game in the future.”
The loss also saw Springbok flyhalf Manie Libbok leave the field in the first half with a knee injury. Stormers DoR Dobson provided no definitive update, stating: “He can’t run, but I really have no clue.”
Leo Cullen’s Leinster remain unbeaten this season, while the Stormers face growing pressure.
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Good match. Barrett, Snyman and Slimani are inspired signings by Leinster. Stormers were hanging in until losing Libbok, then Dan Sheehan struck a great try. Leinster completely dominating second half. Fourie was complaining about Snyman shouting in Afrikaaners to confuse the Stormers lineout. He fell on his ass, knocked it forward and also complained to the ref. I think Stormers were suprized by the quality of leinster. Its hard to readjust then.
I think Leinster will be without Lowe and Sheehan for the Leisnter URC 2 match tour to SA just after the 6 nations so that will be interesting.
Kudos to Stormers for taking the time to visit a school in a diprived area of Dublin North Inner City. Classy and appreciated.
The issue I had with the game was that there were, as there often is in most games, quite a few contentious and missed calls from an IRISH referee, in IRELAND, for an IRISH team. Now you could say that there weren’t any others available, or perhaps there was a last minute change. However Craig Evans, a WELSH urc referee was running the touch line. Why?
There was also an IRISH tmo but roles could easily have been switched to have two Irish touch judges and two welsh officials in the most important and influential decision making roles. Why wasn’t this done to ensure all reasonable efforts towards maintaining impartiality and integrity were upheld???
You seem to be making a particular point about Irish referees with whatever point you are trying to make not just in this game. The issue was Storm Eowyn, the biggest storm in Ireland since at least the 1940s had meant no travel was possible. This cut off the referee and would seem to cut off your conspiracy theory at its legs. As far as I could see Deon Fourie had the refs ear the whole match and the ref was overly polite in telling him to catch himself on with some of Fourie's more ridiculous claims. In fact the ref was over leniant and unfair to Leinster in order to appear impartial IMO. Stormers managed to get two penalties by wheeling the scrum. Slimani and co were dominating, Leinster were winning lineouts (Snyman was shouting a bit in Afrikaaners because the Stormers were shouting their lineout calls like a 1980s team).
Did you see Fourie slip with the ball in possession knock it on and then walk over to the ref and say something?
Could I ask a big favour from you? Could you actually watch the match before launching your latest conspiracy threory? The commentators said several times the reason for the Irish ref which you would certainly have heard had you watched the match.
Stormers thought they were in with a shout and they were hanging on until Libbok had to exit. They barely got out of their half in the send period. It was 35-7 to Leinster and it could have been 42-7 or 49-7. 36-12 was flattering and you would know this had you watched.
I thought the ref (not one I had seen before) was quite good, particularly with the scrums. He explained his decisions well, possibly a bit pernickity but fair all round. A neutral ref is obviously preferable. I don't know why Craig Evans was not made ref but I suspect it is because it was Craig Evans. Almost anyone than him would have been preferable.
What about the 3 warnings for penalties inside the 22 against the Stormers, and failing to produce a yellow card when they continued?
He was more than fair to the Stormers, but as usual for a South African teams, you lose you moan.
Half the team in blue were kids, and Leinster had 6 backs on the pitch for 25 minutes, and 5 for 10 mins, but the Stormers had thrown in the towel by then.
Having an irish referee take charge of a urc match featuring an irish club against a non irish club is just ridiculous,that's why so many of us don't take club rugby serious at all.small crowds says a lot
It was supposed to be an Italian ref, but due to a severe storm in Ireland on Friday, one of the worst they have ever had, he could not travel into the country. The Irish Ref was a replacement.
And, by the way, I would say he was more than fair to the Stormers. He gave them three consecutive warnings of "Do that again, and someone goes to the bin" for penalties in the 22, and failed to give the yellow when they did it again.
This isn't soccer/football. It's the usual antics of the NH teams. They always get away with it. Then people like this Bruiser comes along trying to change the narrative and try and make SA the scape goat be abuse it makes them look really very bad. Everyone gets it. SA is the number 1 enemy and always will be due to jealousy and envy. The Irish has been and always will be chokers. The SA teams will front up to that and get used to such unsportsmanlike behaviour. We were taught to respect other teams and players, even though we demolish them on the field. With such behaviour, refs won't be respected anymore and will eventually be treated by the players like the soccer/football teams do and disrespect them. However, some teams will never have the ability to win if they don't play dirty. That is also a big reason why the French and Irish never won a WC. The Boks and AB's always have the most earth shattering games. They put everything out there against each other, but are the first to have a drink together afterwards because there will never be another rivalry like that. They don't need pathetic stunts and tricks like that. It's why they struggle in the NH because they are not used to such behaviour and tactics. It should be addressed with fines and bans until people learn. Rugby is a very hard sport. Engaging, dangerous and the least boring sport that exists. We don't need that type of behaviour. Not only players should be punished. Sub standard refs should be punished too. It's small things like such ugly behaviour that gets the players anger and emotions up and ends up costing them the game because they, in the moment, get angry and retaliate. They make the wrong emotional choice and players gets hurt, cards gets given and then everyone wants to cry because their team lost because of cards. Easier to blame the cards right?
He must have slept on the flight not realizing he'd entered Ireland.
Shocking we don’t hear about this stuff happening more often it’s almost like all sensible teams precall and send the front lifter to tell the hooker and scream cancel and jump at 4 if the calls not on.
Exactly. And if the stormers ever manage to pull a crowd, they need to have the calls down for stadium atmosphere. If I heard an U11 coach come out with Dobson's (again!) complaint here, I'd say ok, but U12, I'd say "pull the other one". Stormers are starting to look out of their depth. Cheetahs and Kings offered more, and without the slippers n pipe act.
Embarrassing comment. Next he will be blaming the travel
🧌
Do you really want to hear teams screaming at each other at lineouts, it’s a valid point