Jake White remained tight-lipped about a contentious refereeing decision that went against the Vodacom Bulls in the dying stages of their defeat to Edinburgh on Saturday.
In a dramatic end to the game, with the visitors trailing by just seven and five minutes remaining, wing Madosh Tambwe latched onto a kick-pass from Morne Steyn and made his way to the tryline despite the attention of Edinburgh wing Darcy Graham.
But the try was chalked off for a double movement, even though the penalty could have gone the other way as Graham never released Tambwe.
From there, the home side repelled the Bulls and held on for the win.
“It doesn’t matter what I think – the reality is, it wasn’t given. It is what it is, and I obviously would’ve liked it to be a try,” White said in the post-match press conference.
“It’s difficult on a 4G pitch, when the rain’s coming down, for him not to slide and in one motion, put the ball down. But as I said, it makes no difference to whether I think it’s a try.”
While referee Ben Whitehouse also penalised the visitors heavily at the breakdowns, White admitted that the Bulls need to improve in key areas.
“We dropped the kick-off after we scored the try (scored by captain Marcell Coetzee in the 70th minute), and put them back into the game. So, it’s no use looking at those things (refereeing decisions),” White said.
“There are a lot of things that we need to look at. One thing for certain is that we can’t always at halftime be 14-3 or 16-3 (behind), and keep fighting back to win – although I must say I’m really proud that we were, literally up to the last play, still in the game, which is credit to the guys that came on.
“When it comes to fighting spirit, I’m very happy that the guys never gave up.”
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