Super Rugby: Warren Gatland refuses to blame TMO call for Highlanders heartbreaker
Chiefs coach Warren Gatland has refused to blame the officials for this one, as his team wrote themselves into the history books for all the wrong reasons. After gripes with various refereeing calls in the majority of his teams losses in Super Rugby Aotearoa, this time there looked a more legitimate argument for Gatland to hit the roof after his team capitulated to a stunning 33-31 loss to the Highlanders in Hamilton on Sunday . The visitors to FMG Stadium Waikato stunned everyone by coming from 24-0 down at the quarter mark, to win it after the siren via a Sio Tomkinson try and Mitch Hunt conversion. However, with the Chiefs ahead 31-19 in the 65th minute, a no-try call on Damian McKenzie proved a big moment, which kept the southerners in with their sniff. READ MORE: * Super Rugby: 'It's obviously my preferred position', Otere Black injury opens door for Beauden Barrett * Super Rugby Aotearoa: Highlanders secure stunning comeback win over Chiefs * Super Rugby Aotearoa: Jordie gets the last laugh in Battle of the Barretts The scrum call by referee Mike Fraser and TMO Brendon Pickerill, for accidental offside, was technically correct, after the ball came from the knee of Chiefs captain Sam Cane into the boot of first five-eighth Kaleb Trask, however the rules state that officials can only go back two phases in which to make calls. Here, there were at least three rucks post-lineout, before McKenzie crossed. Im not unhappy about that, but if hes going to do that, then make the ruling [on two phases], Gatland said. Because you could be in a situation with another game where the referee turns and says No, thats too far back. You could argue you could have just played on and said thats a try. We just need to make sure we have some consistency. There was a penalty to us on halftime that the AR [assistant referee] was trying to communicate to the referee, and unfortunately the comms werent working. So there was a couple of tough calls. And a tough call on that lineout penalty at the end of the game. We just cant seem to buy a trick at the moment. Gatland said he was expecting probably a bit of an apology or whatever again from referees boss Bryce Lawrence, but that his side simply had to be better at managing their own destiny, having stunningly blown their 31-7 cushion with almost half an hour to play, leaking two tries in the final five minutes. Sometimes in teams winning becomes a habit, and losing does, and calls go against you, and youve got to be smart in terms of how you get out of that, so were pretty disappointed about that, he said. We put ourselves enough points in front. For me, the most disappointing thing was probably when the Highlanders were under a bit of pressure and they werent kicking the ball and we needed to play a bit more 14 in the frontline, because it wasnt their kicking threat, it was their running threat. Highlanders coach Aaron Mauger was coy when asked his thoughts on the McKenzie no-try. Offside, he quipped. Was it two phases? The refs, Im pretty sure they wouldve checked it out. I cant recall, to be fair. I just back Mike Frasers decision, he was obviously being getting fed the information from upstairs too. For the Chiefs, the defeat now equals their worst-ever losing streak of six, with the two previous times having been across two seasons, in 1998-1999, and 2008-2009. Its also now a record five home defeats in a row. With a strong focus on starting well the Chiefs having only scored the first try of the game once in their previous 10 matches this year Gatland said it was then a surreal feeling to stuff it up elsewhere. You get one thing right and you find that youve got another area to work on," he said. We just capitulated in that last 20 minutes. Weve just got to be a little bit better than we are when we come under a little bit of pressure. We know weve got some young players and were missing some experience and giving guys an opportunity, but with that lead, we should have been comfortable with closing the game out. Gatland said the decision not to introduce Aaron Cruden off the bench which also just happens to mean his 100th match for the Chiefs could now be played on home turf in a fortnight was because they were happy with youngster Kaleb Trask and they wanted to give him confidence and show faith in him. The Chiefs now prepare to face the Blues at Eden Park next Sunday, aiming to end this losing run that even Gatland couldn't have pictured when he took on the job this year. Its a challenge, but thats what coachings about, he said. Were not being rolled over and losing by 30-40 points, were competing against all these teams, we just need a little bit of luck, and thatll turn. Ive been in coaching a long time and you have a lot of success and then youve got to handle some disappointments. The key to that is to continue to work hard and to learn from those experiences and turn those into positives.