Wales 12-19 New Zealand, Millennium Stadium, November 7
Gatland hits out at officiating
Scrum.com
November 7, 2009
Wales captain Ryan Jones attempts to break free, Wales v New Zealand, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales, November 7, 2009
Wales captain Ryan Jones was left ruing some untimely errors after Saturday's defeat by the All Blacks © Getty Images
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Wales boss Warren Gatland felt his side had been harshly treated by referee Craig Joubert during Saturday's 19-12 defeat by New Zealand in Cardiff.

The Kiwi coach was particularly incensed by the match official's failure to spot a high tackle by All Blacks No.10 Dan Carter on Wales' replacement scrum-half Martin Roberts in the closing stages of the game, though Gatland that that was just one of many contentious decisions that went against his side.

"It was a head high tackle," he said. "A guy makes a break in the 22 and if that had happened at the other end then it would have been a penalty and a yellow card and all the officials missed it, so we are pretty disappointed with that.

"The frustrating thing from our point of view was not getting some 50-50 calls," he added. "We're not asking for any favours, you just want some calls to go your way. It's trying to change referees' opinions about not wanting to referee an upset - referees don't want to be involved in upsets. But we've got to keep playing positive rugby and win them over, so you feel like you are getting somewhere."

Assistant coach Shaun Edwards was even more forthright in his views on Carter's tackle saying, "They should have played the last 10 minutes of the game with 14 men. It was a high tackle and you see players get yellow carded for that, you see players red carded for that."

Gatland was also less than pleased by the decision to award a first-half penalty against flanker Martyn Williams for a deliberate knock-on. He explained, "The deliberate knock-on against Martyn Williams was harsh and that cost three points. You look at that and it means we lost three points there and with the high tackle."

Gatland did conceded, though, that his players had come up short at key intervals throughout the game.

"For us, it's about learning to play at the highest level, making sure for 80 minutes that we switch on and nail critical moments," he said. "There are fine things as a team we hammer in at training but we must carry them into the game and keep developing.

"In the changing rooms after the players were gutted and maybe previously they would have been happy with that scoreline. We think we are closing the gap to the top sides and it was a good performance, but the challenge for us is to improve on that and it is important we keep improving through the rest of this series."

New Zealand coach Graham Henry was surprised by Gatland's assertion that Carter should have been sin-binned for his tackle on Roberts.

"I think that's a bit of a stretch. Quite frankly I only saw it at the moment, I haven't looked at a replay at all, but it seemed to me he hit him on the chest and then slid," said the former Wales boss. "But, until you look at those things over several views you can't make a decision on it. Let's leave it at that shall we?"

Henry was pleased with his side's display but felt that the video referee had been incorrect in not awarding a try to centre Conrad Smith, one of three New Zealand 'scores' which England's Graham Hughes was asked to adjudicate on.

"It was a highly competitive Test match between two good sides. Our guys have come a long way to play here and they did well under those circumstances. I thought we could have won by more and I wonder about the video referee. I thought that Conrad Smith scored.

"That would have given us a bit of a gap and maybe we could have used that, so that was a wee bit disappointing but overall we are pretty happy with our performance and it was a top quality game."

Wales skipper Ryan Jones also admitted that his players had lost concentration and focus at inopportune times.

"It was a fantastic Test, but we paid the price for a couple of errors in key moments," the Ospreys ace said. "We didn't help ourselves; we were the makers of our own misfortune today - but at 80 minutes we were still in with a chance, and on another day it might have gone our way."

Fly-half Stephen Jones, whose boot accounted for all of Wales' points, was keen to pay tribute to the All Blacks, who were particularly impressive during the second half.

"New Zealand are very clinical - they put us under a lot of pressure," he said. "From our perspective, a few errors allowed them to get on to the front foot. But we have to give them a lot of credit. I would love to have played in a game with a bit more width - but New Zealand are very well-organised defensively.

"We are bitterly disappointed we lost. It's the first game we've played in a long time, but we are going in the right direction. We keep improving and raising the bar and hope we'll get there."

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