A large contingent of Chiefs fans have voiced their frustrations over the performance of the officials, during their heartbreaking Super Rugby Pacific final defeat to the Crusaders at Hamilton's FMG Stadium.
Referee Ben O'Keeffe, assistants Angus Gardner and Nic Berry, and TV official Brendon Pickerill were lustily booed, as they took the stage to receive their medals, after the Crusaders had clinched their seventh title in as many years with a 25-20 win.
O'Keeffe and his colleagues were prominent throughout the match, as the Chiefs paid a heavy price for their indiscipline with three yellow cards and a 15-8 penalty count against them.
The most crucial of those cards was shown to co-captain Sam Cane with just eight minutes to play. As the Chiefs desperately attempted to repel the Crusaders' rolling maul from repeated lineout drives and defend their slim lead, O'Keeffe ruled Cane had played at the ball before it had left a ruck and sent him on his way.
After Cane departed, they eventually cracked, with Codie Taylor burrowing over for a patented try to put his team in front for the final time.
Taylor also drew the ire of a fuming Hamilton crowd, jeered heavily during his post-match interview.
Not all the contentious decisions went against the home side. There was also a strong argument that Anton Lienert-Brown's yellow card for a head-to-head clash with Dallas McLeod should have been upgraded to a red, but Pickerill ruled there was sufficient mitigation, as McLeod dipped into the tackle.
After the game, Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan was reluctant to buy in to any criticism of the referees, but did highlight what appeared to be a clear forward pass in the build-up to the Crusaders' opening try.
"The biggest call, momentum swinger, was what I thought was a clear and obvious forward pass," said McMillan.
"That [would give] us a scrum, we apply some pressure down that end of the field. They scored the play after... that's a big moment."
"I don't want to bag the referee - the crowd did that at the end of the game. Maybe that says something."
