Jake White was spitting after Bulls loss to Stormers
Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White did his best tap-dance to put forward a humble disposition, but could not resist the temptation to point out what he felt were ‘inconsistencies’ by match officials.
“Firstly, we have to be humble,” White started off his post-match media briefing after his team suffered a 21-33 loss to the Stormers in their United Rugby Championship quarterfinal in Cape Town at the weekend.
The Stormers were impressive in all aspects of the game, as they put down a marker in defence of their title – reaching their second successive home semifinal.
“The Stormers played really well,” the Bulls’ boss continued, adding: “Credit to the Stormers, they’re champions, they’ve got a good team.
“They’ve got an incredible record here [Cape Town]. They’ve got 10 incumbent Springboks.”
White made it clear he felt some of the calls were not consistent with the messages they received from the refereeing brains trust during the season.
He suggested some of the calls from referee Jaco Peyper and TMO Marius Jonker were in contrast to what they had received from the URC refereeing panel under the management of Tappe Henning.
It started with a head-knock to star flyhalf Johan Goosen.
“Someone whacked him on the head in a tackle,” the Bulls boss said of the HIA call that went against Goosen in the 42nd minute.
“A couple of those head-to-head clashes no one saw,” White said, adding: “I watched a Test match where some of those tackles, you get red-carded.
“And tonight, [the] best referee [Peyper] and the best TMO [Jonker] in South Africa, [say there is] nothing wrong.”
It did not stop there, as his teaser saw the media probe for more detail on his feeling about those ‘questionable’ calls.
“I am not going to give you the whole run-down,” White said, adding: “A lot of work goes into preparing video clips of things.
“The answers are that [those tactics] won’t be allowed. Then you see the same pictures in a game, and it is allowed.”
He made it clear there needs to be more consistency between what is being told to teams before a game and what happens in a game.
“One thing that we are going to have to work out is how can we, through the URC, find a way to get [consistency].
“I’ve heard that there is zero tolerance on hands past the ball on the ground, but it didn’t look like that tonight.
“I heard that if you sack a maul, and it’s a tackle, you can’t lie on top of the ball. But that didn’t happen tonight either.”
White then complimented the Stormers for playing and adapting to how match officials rule on the day.
“To be fair, that’s what the Stormers do well: you’ve got to adapt to that.
“They do it well and they are very good at it.
“For argument’s sake, one of the things that they did really well is that they play the support runner in the breakdowns, and then got over the ball.
“[They] never once got penalised for taking out the support runner without the ball.
“But credit to them.
“They obviously worked very hard on the breakdown, and it works for them.
“They’ve got a good set-piece, and defend well.
“So, if I analyse the game, it’s funny how we went 7-0 down and I actually said: ‘I don’t want the ref to give a penalty at scrum time when someone slips’. Then we were 10-0 down.
“When you are 10-0 down against the Stormers, it’s incredible because you have to chase the game.
“Their defence is so good that once you have to start chasing the game, you must put yourself under pressure.”
White was also not happy about the yellow card issued when flank Cyle Brink took out counterpart Hacjivah Dayimani near the tryline.
“I saw exactly the same picture on the other side of the field when the captain asked the official: ‘Didn’t he tackle him head to head’?
“And then he said: ‘No, he didn’t have the ball’.
“I didn’t know you could tackle a guy without the ball.
“For me, it was a yellow card against Cyle for exactly the same picture as against Keagan Johannes in the other corner.
“So, I repeat, I think we’re going to need to find a way [to get consistency].
“We’ve spent a lot of time and effort – and [South Africa’s Director of Rugby] Rassie [Erasmus] taught you this many months ago, putting videos together asking about it – and then you see the pictures and then you don’t get any joy from the same pictures.
“I am saying it again.
“I’ve got a lock [Charlie Ewels] playing for the Bulls against the Sharks [in the Currie Cup] he got red carded in a Test match for exactly the same tackle that I saw in this game.”
Comments on RugbyPass
late hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
4 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
24 Go to comments