Chiefs coach Warren Gatland has refused to blame officials for a questionable disallowed try call that went against his side during their 33-31 Super Rugby Aotearoa defeat to the Highlanders.
The Chiefs led 24-0 after 20 minutes and then 31-7 in the second half, but the Highlanders mounted a comeback for the ages, as a converted Sio Tomkinson try after the fulltime siren saw the southern men claim their second win of the campaign.
It was the second time this season the Highlanders had pipped their rivals in the final minutes of a contest, after Bryn Gatland's game-winning drop goal in Dunedin last month.
But with the Chiefs leading 31-19, a game-changing decision in the final 15 minutes swung momentum in the Highlanders' favour, when a potential Damian McKenzie try was ruled out by the television match official (TMO), due to an accidental offside in the lead-up, when the ball came off Sam Cane's knee into first-five Kaleb Trask's boot.
Gatland was more frustrated that the accidental offside occurred three phases before McKenzie crossed the line. Guidelines state the TMO can go back "no more than two phases" for potential infringements before tries.
"I'm not unhappy about that, but if he's going to do that, then make the ruling [on two phases]," says Gatland. "Because you could be in a situation with another game where the referee turns and says 'No, that's too far back'.
"You could argue you could have just played on and said that's 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 weren't working.
"There were a couple of tough calls and a tough call on that lineout penalty at the end of the game. We just can't seem to buy a trick at the moment."
Highlanders coach Aaron Mauger saw things differently, saying Trask was offside.
Regardless of the decision, Gatland knows the Chiefs should have held on for victory, after dominating most of the contest.
According to Fox Sports Lab, the 24-point comeback is the fourth largest in Super Rugby history, with the Crusaders' 29-point 2018 fightback against the Waratahs being the largest.
"Sometimes, in teams, winning becomes a habit and losing does, and calls go against you," says Gatland. "You've got to be smart in terms of how you get out of that, so we're pretty disappointed about that.
"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 weren't kicking the ball, and we needed to play a bit more '14 in the frontline', because it wasn't their kicking threat, it was their running threat."
The Chiefs haven't won since March 6 - before the coronavirus pandemic - and have lost six consecutive games.
They return to the field next week, when they face the Blues in Auckland next Sunday.
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