Lions coach sees red

The Lions coach is unhappy about the officiating at King's Park, where his team lost 32-20 to the Sharks. His dissatisfaction will be contained in a formal report to the rugby unions of South Africa, Australia and New Zealand who make up Sanzar, the controlling body of the Super 15.

The Lions conceded four tries, at least two of which Mitchell believes were not legitimate. Otherwise, the match was an exciting encounter, albeit strewn with errors.

His anger was not directed at referee Mark Lawrence but at linesmen Quinton Immelman and Marc van Zyl and TV ref Johan Meeuwesen.

"There was some dubious officiating because there was a foot out before the ball was pressed [for Lwazi Mvovo's try] and we're going to report the TMO [television match official] based on the evidence we have," Mitchell said.

"In the last try there were also at least two forward passes and it's something we're going to deal with at management level."

Mitchell explained that, after every match, teams are asked to hand in detailed assessments of the officials' performances to Sanzar game manager Lyndon Bray, as part of a continuing process to improve officiating standards.

The Lions coach also called for the scope of the TV refs to be widened to go further back in a play to ascertain if any mistakes had been made.

"Reporting these officials won't change the outcome of the match, and we accept that. But people have to be accountable for their actions, just as coaches and players are expected to be accountable," Mitchell said.

Although he was angry, and some pivotal decisions did go against his team, he acknowledged that it was always going to be a struggle with a patchwork team following a raft of injuries in the past eight days.

After the previous week's match against the Hurricanes, the Lions lost loosehead props JC Janse van Rensburg and CJ van der Linde to lengthy injuries.

That necessitated moving Patric Cilliers from tighthead to loosehead for the Sharks game.

But Cilliers cried off the day before the Sharks encounter with a stomach virus.

To compound matters, flyhalf Elton Jantjies took a heavy knock on the leg in Wednesday's practice and was withdrawn 24 hours before the match.

To add to this catalogue of disasters, centre Alwyn Hollenbach, the Lions' most direct runner, limped off with a hamstring strain 25 minutes into the game. It has been a tough week for the Lions.

"I was certainly banking on team cohesion from the previous campaign for this competition.

"But the dynamics have changed pretty quickly," Mitchell said of the all the injuries.

"We're suddenly integrating a new team out there and it's obvious we're not totally cohesive, as players are having to learn through experience.

"It's an extremely tough tournament to gain experience in, but, having said that, I thought the new caps, [props] Caylib Oosthuizen and Ruan Dreyer and [flyhalf] Andries Coetzee did very well."

Mitchell said he expected both Jantjies and Cilliers to be fit for the Lions' next match.

Source: http://www.sportlive.co.za/rugby/superrugby/article4237464.ece

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