'We need respect': Cheika blasts referee after defeat to Boks

REACTION: Argentina head coach Michael Cheika has revealed his frustrations with the refereeing decisions in his team's 21-38 defeat to the Boks in Durban.

The match on Saturday was plagued with questionable decisions by the officials, which is something that has become the norm in the modern game.

Cheika admitted he was confused by some of the calls from referee Damon Murphy and was not pleased with the match officials for the second week in a row.

"For us, it is not very clear, because in the first three games of the Rugby Championship we were among the least penalised teams," he said.

"At one point the referee tells Julian [Montoya] he has empathy for him.

"We don't need empathy, we need respect.

"It is very difficult to win games when decisions are made like this."

Cheika was also left lamenting a missed opportunity to make a major statement ahead of next year's Rugby World Cup.

The Pumas were unable to get a victory over the Boks this year, but victories in New Zealand and at home to Australia made this one of their most impressive campaigns to date.

"There were two [other] games that we could have won, against Australia [also at home] and last week [at home against South Africa]. I'm not happy with the results, but as a team, we are improving," Cheika told ESPNScrum.

"It's difficult to say this because I don't want to give the impression that we are only going to compete and nothing else. We need to win, we played well and we were able to do it.

"In general we have increased the level of our game, but it's time to believe that we can win more often against the best teams in the world. It's very important to take these learnings into November [the end-of-year internationals)."

Cheika bemoaned his side's decision-making in their loss in Durban, a game in which they conceded 22 penalties, two penalty tries and received four yellow cards.

"I think the score is not a reflection of the match," he said.

"The lesson we take from this game is that it is very important to make good decisions at important moments."

Source: AAP