Emirates Lions captain Marius Louw refused to blame decisions by the referee for their 28-30 loss against the Vodacom Bulls on Saturday in Pretoria.
Vodacom Bulls' Mpilo Gumede picked up the ball behind a scrum and scored the Bulls' third try while Emirates Lions' scrumhalf Morné van den Berg ran into referee Cwengile Jadezweni which prevented him from getting to Gumede.
“He also has to occupy space and they capitalised well on that. If you look, New Zealand scored a very similar try, I don’t know exactly when it was,” Louw said.
“Sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn’t and I think, hindsight, maybe if Krappie made the tackle on the ref, we would’ve come back to that, so I think it was just a defensive error from our side."
Louw was visibly disappointed at the post-match press conference, however, he said the bonus point earned will be important at the end of the season.
“It is not great losing by less than seven points every time, but last year we saw what bonus points mean, so we’ll take it any time of the day."
“Obviously happy to come away with at least one point but not satisfied yet. I think there is a lot of potential in this team and we know that. So it’s not just about believing, we know we can,”
Emirates Lions head coach Ivan Van Rooyen said he had so many emotions going through him after the game.
“Different smile, different feeling, different emotions. It’s bittersweet, it could’ve gone the other way."
“I think the fact that we stuck into it for 80 minutes is something to be proud of. The character, the fight. I think we fronted up physically, we know with momentum and quick ball, the Bulls are probably the best in the world."
“Just again, the margins are so small, Jordan kicks it over or there was a penalty two phases before that, different kind of kick."
“Our next two games are Bulls and Sharks at home. I don’t want to say must wins, but it is must wins, if we can get eight to ten points out of those it will leave us in a position where we go on tour that you want to stay in the fight and get as many points as possible," van Rooyen said.
“If I’m really honest, I think we probably can be better at home as well. It’s a nice challenge for us to have the Bulls who are flying high and the Sharks that have drastically improved in the last four to six weeks, to have them at Ellis Park."