Jake White has fired back at John Dobson over his comments on the citing of DHL Stormers flanker Willie Engelbrecht from the Vodacom Bulls.

Engelbrecht was cited by the opposition for dangerous play in the Stormers’ 37-27 victory in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship north-south derby last week, but has been cleared to face the Lions in Cape Town on Saturday.

The Bulls and Sharks lock horns at Kings Park this week and speaking during a team announcement on Friday, a vociferous White hit out at Dobson, who regarded the citing of Engelbrecht as “spurious”.

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The Bulls director of rugby told reporters that he has sent the Stormers boss “a few messages” on the matter, then elaborated: “On the record, I want to explain that it’s got nothing to do with spurious or sour grapes; the reality is it was a head clash on a player in an environment that we’re having so much concern on concussions etcetera.

“And if the citing guy passes it forward and the committee decides that it is illegal and it is dangerous, then I want to know from you guys [the media] why wasn’t it blown, why wasn’t it penalised?

“And it was in the first minute of the game with two TMOs and a referee, so that is the crux of the matter for me.

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“It’s irrelevant for me whether or not people are chucking things out saying I’m being sour grapes – I want to know how a guy gets cleaned out on the head in the first minute of a game with two TMOs and a referee wasn’t penalised.

“It’s much more serious than some stupid comment that some guy makes about sour grapes.”

White added: “I don’t want to read in articles where the coaches used to own certain websites can have freedom of saying whatever they feel like they can say.

“My job is to look after a player; if he gets cleaned out on the head and it’s illegal and it’s dangerous, then surely you have the right to cite.”

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