adminRicky Zililo Sports Reporter
WESTERN Panthers and Old Miltonians yesterday formally complained to the National Rugby League about poor officiating by upcoming referee Shemeah Mushirimpindi who handled their Saturday’s 10-all drawn match. The result saw Western Panthers dislodge Matabeleland Warriors who lost 27-61 away to Old Georgians from position four on the log to fifth.
Instead of celebrating their feat of keeping their hopes for a semi-final slot alive, Western Panthers coach George Mukorera took a swipe at Mushirimpindi whom he said cost them the game.
“The problem is that Mushirimpindi was thrown into the deep end and failed to handle the derby. He made a number of blunders that cost us the game and as I speak to you, I have just finished lodging our complaint about how the game was handled to the NRL,” said Mukorera.
Mushirimbindi was kept busy throughout the match and issued a red card to Western Panthers’ eighth man Simbarashe Jowa, yellow cards to Francis Nakamu, Busani Ncube and Nigel Gatsi all from Western Panthers as well as Old Miltonians’ front row player Victor Chiwara.
Old Miltonians also feel hard done by the match official whom they said was incompetent.
“The referee spoiled the game because there were lots of infringements on our players which resulted in our players getting frustrated. Actually, before the match we had raised our concerns about the referee because he is a former Western Panthers player and for him to handle a derby on his first game as a referee was too much.
He should have been assessed at school rugby level before being thrown into the deep end.
“On the other hand, I think our guys also failed to rise up to the occasion because we should have collected maximum points,” said Theo Weale, the Old Miltonians’ manager.
Western Panthers went for the halftime break leading 7-3 after scoring a try through Ncube which was converted by Ntandoyenkosi Ndlovu while Old Miltonians had their points through a penalty goal by Gabisani Ndlovu.
Old Miltonians had a try a minute into the second half with Gabisani going over the line and going on to add the extra two points with a successful conversion kick to give them a 10-7 lead.
Western Panthers drew level with a penalty goal from Ntandoyenkosi who missed an opportunity to give Panthers the lead with a missed penalty kick at goal.
Gabisani also blew up a perfect chance to win the game for OMs right before the end when he sent his penalty kick at goal wide off the posts.
In other NRL matches played at the weekend, Zvishavane Bulls continued to sing the blues as they suffered a 12-14 home defeat against Gweru Sports Club while log leaders Old Hararians beat defending champions Harare Sports Club 31-20.
Results
Saturday: Zvishavane Bulls 12, Gweru Sports Club 14; Western Panthers 10, Old Miltonians 10; Old Georgians 61, Matabeleland Warriors 27; Harare Sports Club 20, Old Hararians 31
Log
P W L D F A B/Pts Pts Total
Old Hararians 11 10 1 0 618 145 9 40 49
Old Georgians 9 8 1 0 332 125 8 32 40
Harare Sports Club 9 5 4 0 502 146 7 20 27
Western Panthers 10 4 5 1 171 386 2 18 20
Mat’land Warriors 9 3 5 1 230 238 5 14 19
Old Miltonians 10 3 5 2 163 327 3 16 19
Gweru Sports Club 9 3 6 0 143 296 5 12 17
Zvishavane Bulls 11 1 10 0 102 598 3 4 7
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