Egon’s errant whistle stumped both Stormers and Lions, says Dobbo

Never shy of speaking his mind, Stormers assistant coach has intimated that the Capetonians probably were fortunate to be on the right end of Egon Seconds’ whistle in the dying moments of last weekend’s derby win over the Lions.

Various observers – most prominently former Bok coach Nick Mallett – pointed out how Malcolm Marx was penalised in the 77th minute for a legitimate steal at the breakdown, partly because Seconds was unsighted  and his assistant seemingly didn’t want to make the call.

ALSO READ: No regular skippers will feature at Ellis Park this weekend

As a result, the Stormers won a penalty and applied enough pressure for replacement scrumhalf Hershel Jantjies to score the winning try.

Dobson believes both sides had reason to question Seconds’ performance.

“Whoever lost that game would’ve had a reason to feel aggrieved, whether it was over the result or the officiating,” he said.

“There was a lot of pressure on the referee towards the back end of the game. Both teams probably had cases. We had one or two calls that bothered us, but those decisions weren’t as seismic in terms of timing during the game.”

While praising the players for their character and sharpness on defence and at the breakdowns, Dobson also admitted that Jantjies’ late show-stopper was the Stormers merely taking advantage of a bit of luck.

“That’s the brutality of rugby. In the last scrum, the ball came spurting out. Scarra (Ntubeni) hooked the feed so hard that he hits Jaco Coetzee, who pulls out. Had that not happened and the Lions kept us out, everyone would be talking about another Stormers loss,” he said.

“But because that ball flew out and Hershel took advantage of a sudden wonderful opportunity.”

For more sport your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.