Mike Blair hits out at scrum decisions after Edinburgh's defeat by Stormers

Mike Blair did not even try to hide his sense of frustration at the way the scrums in Edinburgh’s 34-18 defeat by Stormers were refereed by Irish whistler Frank Murphy. The head coach conceded that it was not the sole reason why his team failed to claim a famous scalp against last season’s URC Champions in their own backyard, but made it clear that it was, to his mind, a significant contributory factor.

Evan Roos of the Stormers in action during the United Rugby Championship match between DHL Stormers and Edinburgh at DHL Stadium on October 01, 2022 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

“I’m surprised that they weren’t penalised more,” he said. “We’ve got a dominant scrum, we’re going forward, the scrum is going to ground, and the referee is saying ‘play the ball away’.

“That doesn’t happen. We’re dominant and we should be rewarded for being dominant in that area.

“Stormers were excellent in their defence. I thought they put a huge amount of pressure on our attack, and that was their pinch point.

“Our pinch point was our scrum and I thought it was managed a bit to get the game going when, in fact, we had a huge amount of dominance there which should have resulted in more points and potentially yellow cards for illegal scrummaging.

“It’s not the reason for the loss,” Blair added. “I thought Stormers were excellent today – they took the opportunities they got, and they harassed us with their defence.

“They’ve got some incredible individuals – especially in the back-row, the centre and on the wings – who if you give them a sniff they take it.

“That’s the beauty of their game, which is about strong defence and forcing errors out of you and then using their speed and skill to make the most of it.

“That’s what won them the game, although I do feel that had we been given our due reward for what we were doing at the scrum then we could have controlled the game a little better.”

Edinburgh marched into a 10-point lead thanks to a Pierre Schoeman try, and a conversion and a penalty from Blair Kinghorn, but Stormers hauled themselves back into the contest with a try by flanker Deon Fourie.

A try from Springbok hooker Joseph Dweba at the start of the second half followed by a brace for exciting youngster Suleiman Hartzenberg secured the bonus-point home win, with man-of-the-match Manie Libbock kicking all four conversions and two penalties.

Kinghorn kicked a second penalty and Dave Cherry claimed a consolation try before the end, but it wasn’t enough to secure a losing bonus-point.

That means Edinburgh return home from their two-match mini-tour of South Africa with head held high but with only the two bonus-points they picked up against the Bulls last weekend to show for their effort.

“Let’s not forget that we have played against two quality teams who were the finalists in the URC last season,” concluded Blair.

“These are tough games – they are proper Test match-type scenarios against international quality teams – but the guys are thriving and taking on the challenge.

“So, we want to be proud of what we’ve done, but we also want to be ambitious and challenge ourselves.

“It is fine to be in games, but let’s be in a better position to finish games, because I believe we’ve got the squad to be able to do that.”

Edinburgh host the Dragons next weekend and will be hopeful that centre Mark Bennett recovers from the shoulder injury he picked up during this game in time to play in that match.

No 8 Nick Haining suffered a concussion so will have to go through the Head Injury Assessment process before he is available again, while Jamie Ritchie has bruised ribs.