‘I didn’t like it from the start’ – Michael Cheika slams New Zealand referee’s Premiership appointment
Leicester Tigers head coach Michael Cheika and New Zealand referee Ben O'Keeffe.
Leicester Tigers head coach Michael Cheika didn’t hold back when asked for his verdict on the appointment of New Zealand’s Ben O’Keeffe to referee his team’s Premiership clash against Gloucester at Kingsholm on Saturday.
The Cherry and Whites clinched a 38-31 victory, a result that moved them into third position in the standings – one place above Leicester.
O’Keeffe was in charge of the Premiership encounter in preparation for the Round One Six Nations clash between Ireland and England which he will referee at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin this Saturday.
However, Cheika questioned the decision to appoint O’Keeffe to take charge of the match and said his side “deserved more than we got out of that game”.
“I am not going to have a go at anyone, but I am not sure why they are bringing in the international referees this weekend,” he told TNT Sports.
‘There is a difference in interpretation’
“I didn’t like it from the start, when they said it was happening. It is clear there is a difference in interpretation in how the ball is played on the ground.
“We got affected by the penalty flow, and we have got to be better to resist those moments when they come, even if they are numerous.”
Despite finishing on the losing side, Cheika was happy with his side’s overall performance and the improvement from his charges after they suffered a humiliating 80-12 defeat to Toulouse in the Investec Champions Cup in their previous match.
The Tigers left Kingsholm with two bonus points but Cheika feels his troops should’ve been victorious.
“I thought we deserved more out of that game than we got to be honest,” he said.
“We came here to win and have to look at a few areas there. We needed to be a bit better at line out, our kicking game could have been sharper so we’ve got to look at it to make sure we come away with more than two points.”
The former Australia and Argentina coach singled out flankers Tommy Reffell and Olly Cracknell for special praise as both braved illness to play, with the former lasting for the entire match.
‘I asked them to play and they did’
“Those boys have been in bed since Wednesday, but we needed them and I asked them to play and they did which was a special effort from both of them,” said Cheika.
“I don’t know how Tommy got through the 80 the way he did.”
Cheika revealed that Leicester were on track with the goals they had set for themselves at the start of the season as they have qualified for the the Investec Champions Cup play-offs and are among the Premiership’s top four teams at this point of the campaign.
“Wounded, yes, but we qualified in Europe and again, maybe we’ll be slightly off our goal there but we’re in the hunt going into the run-in,” he said.
“We’ll use this time to get guys some game time who need it, and work on the things we need to, to get where we want to go.”
