Gold unhappy with officiating

Sharks director of rugby Gary Gold says his side didn't get the rub of the green against the Hurricanes on Saturday.

The Sharks suffered their fifth consecutive loss as they went down 32-24 in Wellington, while two late penalties robbed them of a deserved losing bonus point.

Gold believes his side deserved more for the performance they put in against the log-leaders and has questioned two decisions by referee Chris Pollock which may have altered the course of the match.

With the Sharks trailing 21-17 after 61 minutes, Marcell Coetzee looked to have gone in for a legitimate try from the back of a rolling maul. However, after consultation with the TMO, Pollock controversially disallowed the try for changing lanes.

'For us to have unleashed what was a quality textbook driving maul which led to an emphatic try to not even be properly referred to the TMO to make the decision from what he saw from the screen was disappointing,' said Gold. 'We are not really in a position to complain about referees but that was a huge momentum shift.'

Gold also felt that Pollock was unnecessarily lenient on Hurricanes hooker Motu Matu'u, who looked to have put a late hit on Odwa Ndungane during the second half.

'That late charge on Odwa was another momentum shift. Not only wasn't it a yellow card or a penalty, it ended up being a lineout. I'm staggered as to how you are allowed to compete with no arms in the air, let alone being late.

'It's important that I don't want to be seen to be moaning about it, but those calls didn't go our way.'

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