Sin Bin
'Pathetic' officials blamed for mass brawl
ESPN Staff
February 5, 2014

East Province authorities have launched an investigation into a mass brawl in a match played as a curtain-raiser to the Southern Kings-Lions Super Rugby friendly on Saturday.

The fight broke out near the end of the game between the Eastern Province Kings Vodacom Cup team and national Community Cup champions Despatch when Despatch scored a late try to level the scores.

The incident last several minutes and Despatch president Willem Oliphant went onto the field to try to calm his players down.

"What happened at the end was disgusting and I will be taking matters further," acting Southern Kings coach and Eastern Province Academy manager Robbie Kempson told Business Day. "We have the incident on video."

But former Springbok prop Kempton said the blame laid with the officials. "I think the referee and his adjudicators were pathetic. I don't know why they are reffing. There should have been a red card for the punch on 18-year-old Kings player Tyler Paul."

Oliphant took a different approach and tried to play things down saying there was no need to take things further. "It happened at the end of a good game and players from both sides were involved. These things happen in rugby. At the end there was a good vibe and all the players shook hands."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd

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