That's it... where are my armbands?!?!
Were the Brumbies robbed on Friday?
Chris Dutton
April 8, 2012
Higginbotham's try. Photo: Fox Sport
THE ACT Brumbies can officially feel robbed after a woeful television match official blunder dashed their hopes of victory against the Queensland Reds.
The Sunday Canberra Times has obtained proof TMO George Ayoub made the wrong decision when he awarded Scott Higginbotham the opening try for the Reds in their 20-13 win on Friday night.
Higginbotham's left elbow is clearly out before he gets the ball down, but Ayoub gave referee Steve Walsh the all-clear to award the five-pointer.
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Sam Lane then converted the try to give the Reds a seven-point lead in the 24th minute.
SANZAR referees boss Lyndon Bray did not return calls yesterday.
The Brumbies are privately fuming and perplexed at how Ayoub awarded the try.
The try gave the Reds momentum and had it not been given, scores would have been level at full-time.
Determined to move on, the Brumbies are refusing to get caught in a war of words and be distracted from their mission to avoid a third consecutive loss this week.
The Brumbies know their horror turnover rate was the biggest contributor to their first defeat at Suncorp Stadium in Super Rugby history. But the evidence that Ayoub got it wrong will leave a sour taste in their mouths.
Higginbotham charged to the try line in the 24th minute after Ben Tapuai had made a break down the left wing.
Brumbies scrumhalf Nic White came across in cover defence and tried to stop the Reds' No. 8 from opening the scoring.
But his effort wasn't rewarded with Ayoub bizarrely telling Walsh there was no reason he could not give the try.
Just five minutes later Higginbotham scored his second try and, despite a valiant late fightback, the Brumbies could not close the gap.
White said he and the team had accepted the decision and ''we're not going to dwell on it''.
''When I saw the replay I knew it was going to be close,'' White said.
''I tried my best to get him out … sometimes I'll tackle them out and sometimes I won't, it's just the way it goes.
''In the past five games we've had close calls go our way and against us.
''I guess [getting the ball down and going out] was simultaneous and I don't know what the ruling is there and whether it's benefit of the doubt.
''I wasn't too disappointed because I thought it was 50-50 call, the only thing I would hope is that if that happens to us the same decision is made for consistency.''
As well as his strong effort on the 110 kilogram Higginbotham, White - who weighs 84 kilograms - made two more try-saving tackles.
He kept the Brumbies in the match at half-time when he put his body on the line to help hold up Reds prop Ben Daley.
The 21-year-old was at the bottom of a pack of players ''and I definitely felt the full force of 500 kilos when it was stacks on''.
Despite outscoring the Reds 13-6 in the second half, White said the Brumbies were not satisfied with simply getting close to victory.
''We're playing hard, we're just ending up on the wrong side of the scoreboard,'' White said.
''It's something we certainly need to look at, we can't keep saying we're proud of the effort we put in when we're losing.
''We need to address it and I think we've dealt well with that, more than half of the squad will learn from that experience and I know I certainly have,'' White said.
Brumbies skipper Ben Mowen was disappointed by the performance, and said players couldn't make the same mistakes again.
''You can't have back-to-back losses, we've got to turn the corner,'' Mowen said. ''That was an inconsistent game for us … we spoke at half-time about chasing harder, working the ground better, but we were inconsistent and that's not to our standards.''
