Hollie’s Folly - Why did she keep getting it so wrong?

Many armchair fans and several rugby pundits feel the Stormers were hard done by in their 20-11 loss to Leinster in the second United Rugby Championship semi-final on Saturday in Dublin.

Referee Hollie Davidson seemed particularly tough on the Cape-based side, who didn’t get much traction from their vaunted scrum.

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Later in the match, Davidson yellow-carded lock Salmaan Moerat for kicking the ball when he was lying on the ground and not even looking in its direction.

There were other incidents too, including Stormers flanker Paul de Villiers complaining to Davidson about a side entry at a ruck which cleared him out over the ball, while John Dobson’s charges were also furious that a potential croc roll was waved away.

Speaking exclusively to KickOff Rugby, former Springbok coach Nick Mallett says that the Stormers certainly had the right to be aggrieved with several decisions Davidson made.

“Yeah, I think when you play away from home, you're not going to get the 50-50 calls and sometimes not even 50-50,” Mallett said.

“I mean, the first penalty, if you look at it from the camera angle on the tight-head side, it's really clear their loosehead goes in, [Andrew] Porter goes in and collapses the scrum under pressure from Neethling [Fouche]. So, I mean, that first penalty could have easily gone the way of the Stormers,” he added.

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For Mallett, however, the Stormers should have secured a home semi-final to mitigate such issues. Their last two league games were a draw against Ulster and a loss to Cardiff away from home, which cost them the chance of a home semi-final.

“You've got to play at home. You know, every time the Stormers played a game at home, they got very fair officiating," Mallett said.

“And every time they played away, if you were a Stormers supporter, you'd be irritated by the way the referee was handling the game because you always feel that they weren’t getting the rub of the green.

“And that is just, unfortunately, how it goes.”

Mallett highlighted another penalty he feels the officials missed – an attacking lineout in the Leinster 22m area where he believes the home side jumped across to win the ball.

“A critical one was the lineout where they jump across the lineout and interfere with the Stormers in the 22 at 13-11," said Mallett.

“I think that should have been picked up and that should definitely have been a penalty to the Stormers.

“And had they got that penalty, they could have kicked it in the corner, and they've got a devastating maul, which would most likely have scored a try because I think they [Leinster] were really huffing and puffing in those last 12 minutes at 13-11. They were struggling.

“So, you know, I don't think some of the decisions were correct. If you play away from home, that's what you're going to get.”

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Mallett, however, said that decisions not going your way away from home are part and parcel of the game. He also felt that Ruan Ackermann’s shoulder charge effectively ended the contest and gave the Stormers no hope of winning, saying: “I did think Ackermann’s shoulder charge to the head was absolutely disastrous for them and a really stupid thing to do for an experienced player. It was a straight red card, in fact."

He said that Moerat’s yellow, which then reduced the Stormers to 13 men, was severe he said when asked about the incident.

“I did think Moerat’s yellow card seemed a bit harsh,” Mallett said.

“If you look at the angle, he can't see the ball, and he can't see the scrumhalf when he's lying on the ground.

“He's trying to use his legs to get up, and it just unfortunately hits him. His one leg kicks the ball, I think, completely by error. And that, I think, was really harsh.

“Once you're under pressure and you've given a yellow card away for the shoulder charge to the head, obviously the referee is not on your side at that stage.