Northampton Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson would not pin his side’s loss on a controversial referee decision after they crashed out of the Premiership title race, losing 38-15 to Saracens in the semi-final.
The decision was early on when Saracen Sean Maitland collided with George Furbank in the air during the first minute. Maitland seemingly made contact with the Saints star’s head, but only a penalty was given by Karl Dickson.
The hosts would go on to score five tries in what ended up being a solid performance by the Owen Farrell-inspired team.
Not the referee’s fault
Dowson put his side’s loss down to a poor first-half performance instead of the decision from Dickson.
“The referee didn’t give it. I presume the TMO looked at it and made a decision that it was a rugby contest and therefore play on,” Dowson said.
“We’ll have to look at it again. I don’t know where Maitland was looking. I don’t know where he was in conjunction with the ball in the air. Whether I agree with it or not is irrelevant.
“You need to be lucky here and whether that’s an element of the luck or not I don’t know.
“A couple of things didn’t go our way but I’m sure Sarries would say the same thing. That was one of those decisions that didn’t go our way, rightly or wrongly.
“Everyone will have an opinion on it. But it was still 15 a side and we conceded three tries in the first half.
“In a semi-final against the best team in the league, you’re going to struggle, no matter what decision is made by the referee.”
Meanwhile, Saracens boss Mark McCall felt the correct decision was made by Dickson and praised how his side controlled the game.
“Sean probably didn’t need to do what he did, which is to pull out because he’s going to compete for the ball. I thought it was a good decision,” he said.
Great defensive set
“I thought it was our strongest defensive performance for years. It’s always been the DNA of the club and that’s as good as we’ve been for a while to be honest.
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“That laid the foundation for the victory and the performance. We were physical and got control of a very good attacking team. The players felt in control.
“You’re not going to have a semi-final your own way all the time. I was very pleased with how we dealt with it. We were emotionally consistent and strong.
“We got on with the next thing, put energy into the next thing. We did our jobs and got back to basics. These things happen in finals and semi-finals and we dealt with it really well.”