Ulster head coach Dan McFarland’s view that replacement prop Callum Reid’s disallowed try in the dying embers of the 23-20 defeat to the Stormers should have stood has been officially vindicated by the United Rugby Championship (URC) head of referees, Tappe Henning.
The incident was discussed on South African rugby station SuperSport’s Final Whistle programme and Henning, a participant, said that the referee, Italy’s Gianluca Gnecchi and the television match official Quinton Immelman got the decision wrong.
Gnecchi originally gave the try but as Ulster outhalf Billy Burns lined up the conversion, Immelman asked the Italian to review footage. The officials adjudicated following a prolonged discussion that Reid had knocked-on in the process of scoring and that the prop’s hand rather than the ball had been struck by Stormers’ Hacjivah Dayimani.
Henning explained: “What’s hugely important here is the referee has awarded a try, and it is during the process of the conversion kick that there’s additional information now visible. So now we’re looking for an infringement to overturn the referee’s original decision of a try.
“There was no conclusive evidence there was an infringement of a knock-on, so the original decision [should] stand. That’s the important bit: there has to be conclusive evidence that the ball goes from his hand forward to overturn the on-field decision and that’s not there. So it’s a try.
“The first bit, that the on-field decision was a try, was hugely important. In the process they followed, they did not revisit the fact that the on-field decision was a try, which meant they needed conclusive evidence to overturn, and that was not there.”
Vindication doesn’t offer much sustenance for Ulster and McFarland, who should have been celebrating a victory. Speaking from Pretoria where the Irish province plays their second game of their South African trip against the Bulls at the weekend, McFarland said: “It wasn’t news to me. It is what it is, just fact. It’s a try, very simply.
“The ball is dislodged out of Callum’s hands, it goes backwards, he lands on it and scores a try. It’s not complicated in any shape or form. I put in my report to Tappe [on Sunday] and there were a number of [other] instances in the game that were of high import. I await his reply. I was lucky enough to see the SuperSport interview. I know what, on the big issue, his reply is going to be.
“From our perspective it is just a massive shame that the [results] log for the rest of the season will not be a true reflection on how we have done. Given how competitive it is at the top of the table, from my perspective when I take a step back and look at it objectively, that [defeat] is a big shame.”
The Ulster coach will have a number of the Ireland contingent including Iain Henderson, James Hume and Nick Timoney to reintroduce on the high veldt at the weekend, the second match in a ridiculously tough run of across two competitions.
Ulster follow their two-game South African assignment with back-to-back matches against the reigning Heineken Champions Cup holders Toulouse in the Round of 16, the first of which takes place at Le Stadium on Saturday week before the sides meet again in the second leg in Belfast a week later.
In switching back from Europe to the URC they then face Munster and Edinburgh in successive matches. McFarland admitted: “The playing resources definitely have to be managed but at the same time games have to be won.”
Ulster’s experience in South Africa to date has been an overwhelming positive, the only downside “that eight or nine of the players had funny tummies, nothing too serious but they don’t want to have to play in that kind of heat when they have had a dickey tummy.”
Ulster swapped sea level for altitude in moving from Cape Town to Pretoria but McFarland doesn’t see it as a major issue. “I don’t see it as a difficulty. We have played at altitude a couple of times. Although the guys feel tired at the end of a game relative to the opposition I have never looked at us and thought that we are more tired than them.
“We will get a good training session on Tuesday, a good training session on Thursday and a bit of a run around on Friday. You can’t say at that time you will be acclimatised to playing at altitude but we will know what to expect. Will it be tough? 100 percent. Will we be equipped to tough it out? Absolutely.”
Greg Jones sustained a fractured thumb against the Stormers and has returned to Belfast.
