Umaga surprised by no Stormers sin-bin

Blues boss Tana Umaga expected to see Stormers centre Shaun Treeby receive a yellow card after a high shot on Piers Francis.

The visitors lost Matt Duffie to two yellow cards, his second coming in the 67th minute, while Francis was knocked out in the collision with Treeby, who only received a penalty.

"From what's happened in previous games you probably could say (it deserved yellow)," Umaga told reporters.

"We knew going into this game the South African referees had been giving away a lot of yellow cards, and cards in general, so we talked a lot about being disciplined and we would expect that consistency throughout the whole game.

"I've got to go through the right channels in terms of reporting back — that's what we'll do to make sure we get some answers to some of the questions we have.

"There were some tough calls that we felt went against us but that's the way it goes."

With the defeat in Cape Town, the Blues' fifth of the season, Umaga admitted that their hopes of catching the rest of the New Zealand franchises in order to make the play-offs were now slim.

"We always knew we had to win every game to be in contention," Umaga explained.

"We obviously didn't do that tonight. It's disappointing but we've still got games to play and we want to make sure we finish on the right note. If we do get some results go our way you just never know."