Nick Mallett slams referee after Stormers defeat to Connacht

The Stormers' 19-17 United Rugby Championship defeat to Connacht was overshadowed by a dubious performance by Scottish referee Ben Blain.

Blain penalised the Irish outfit just four times in the entire game as they overcame a 17-7 second-half deficit to sneak a win.

Speaking in the SuperSport studio after the game, former Springbok coach Nick Mallett did not hold back in his assessment of the Scottish referee.

"When you see how enthusiastically he blew his whistle when the Stormers made a mistake and how he rued blowing his whistle when Connacht made a mistake, it wasn't surprising to know who he wanted to win," Mallett said.

According to Mallett, all the 50/50 calls appeared to go Connacht's way and there was also debate over the costly yellow card dished out to Stormers centre Ruhan Nel for a high hit.

Mallett said it was "ridiculous" that Nel was yellow carded.

Fellow pundit and former Springbok prop Robbie Kempson concurred: "The ref was absolutely terrible. I agree with Nick, enthusiastic is polite. I can't fathom how the Stormers could drive so well in first half but never in the second half. This was a poor reffing performance. It was that simple."

Meanwhile, Stormers captain Steven Kitshoff said afterwards they were frustrated at not getting rewarded for their maul dominance.

"I felt we had complete dominance when it came to maul time, and we didn't get any reward out of it.

"There were some cynical penalties that were missed. I'm not bad-mouthing the ref at all, but there were clear penalties missed, and it was very frustrating," Kitshoff said.