Revealed: referee's massive penalty-mark blunder in Chiefs' loss to Hurricanes
Chiefs coach Warren Gatland has taken umbrage with Jordie Barrett’s long-range hoof that helped push the Hurricanes to their first Super Rugby Aotearoa victory, claiming it was taken 10 metres off the mark.
Barrett’s 58-metre penalty, which gave the Hurricanes a 17-point halftime lead in their eventual 25-18 victory in Hamilton on Sunday, underlined his superb striking ability that few, if any, in world rugby can match.
After watching his side fall to their fourth straight defeat, despite enjoying a one-man advantage for 25 minutes in the second half after Hurricanes lock Scott Scrafton copped his second yellow card, Gatland complained about where Barrett took his kick.
“The penalty on halftime was probably 10 metres forward from where it should have been but that’s us at the moment. We’ve got to take our opportunities,” Gatland said.
“In those moments we just need to make sure we get some clarity. It’s an easy one to say ‘that’s not the mark it’s 10 metres back’. We saw a situation last night where there was a penalty and try scored from a forward pass. We need to make sure our communication is better.
“It was a great kick and he kicked one in the warm-up from about 60 metres but that wasn’t where the mark was from. We’ve got to make sure we get those things right because they are big moments in the game.”
At the time of the penalty against prop Nepo Laulala Chiefs captain Sam Cane could be seen remonstrating with referee Ben O’Keeffe.
“I’m not going to lie it was disappointing,” Cane said. “I was outside Nepo – I saw he was offside, it was a fair penalty. I can understand two metres but 10 you’re wondering what you’re looking at. At the same time, that’s not the winning and losing of the game right there, it’s just a disappointing moment.
“We’re all singing off the same song sheet and trying our guts out but if we can control a few more things like that 10-minute period before halftime and then it’s a different ball game. It’s a happy camp, it’s a camp that’s fighting for each other, but four losses isn’t pretty.”
Hurricanes coach Jason Holland brushed off the Barrett strike which, in fairness, had minimal bearing on the outcome.
“I haven’t seen that,” Holland said. “That’s the way it goes. If that’s an issue, I’m not sure. It was a good kick anyway. He told me in the warm-up he had 65 metres in him with the breeze and I laughed at him.
“It was massive to get the win tonight. A lot of it was around attitude and ticker. We’ve got a lot of scope to get a lot better. I said to the boys ‘I reckon you’ve got to score 30 points to win these games’ and we’ve got to be a little bit more accurate to do that but I can’t fault the effort. We can build from here nicely.”
After snapping a three-loss run since lockdown Hurricanes captain TJ Perenara was proud of his side’s defensive resilience and happy to welcome Barrett back from a shoulder injury.
“He would kick the ball from anywhere. He likes those kicks, he likes big moments,” Perenara said. “He’s a quality player. It’s not just his kicking ability off the tee – his kicking out of hand, running the ball and organisation has been crucial for us.
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“The best thing it gives us is the ability for teams not to give penalties away in that area of the field – they know that we’ll take points from there. I’m not sure he’s missed too many from there so it’s a good weapon for us to have.”
In both tries scored by Hurricanes wing Kobus van Wyk the Chiefs were guilty of rushing the ball carrier without making a spot tackle and leaving far too much space on the outside to exploit. With the bye week to contemplate these costly defensive blunders, Gatland admitted the Chiefs’ title hopes were dashed.
“It’s frustrating at the moment we can’t seem to buy a trick. Everyone realises how tough this competition is and you need a bit of momentum and luck and we need some of that at the moment.
“We’ve got to keep learning from these situations. For us it’s about earning some respect and pride and hurting some other people on the way. We can’t win this competition now if we’re realistic but we want to earn some respect in these last four games and that’s pretty important.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Farcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
7 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
7 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
7 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
61 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
55 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
61 Go to comments