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Cape Town - Brumbies scrumhalf Nic White didn’t make many friends in South Africa on his return to Super Rugby against the Stormers on Saturday.
The 24-year-old Wallaby was at the centre of numerous off-the-ball incidents, but he wasn’t the only one.
The match was plagued by a few scuffles that seemed to have the potential to turn into fisticuffs, though both camps played the confrontation down after the match.
Stormers captain Duane Vermeulen was all smiles in the post-match presser, and he shrugged off the ‘niggle’ as part of the game, saying that he was unsure whether or not the Brumbies came into the match with a deliberate tactic to disrupt the Stormers.
"We knew that it was going to be a physical game.
"They have a very good pack and are just a good team on the whole," the Stormers skipper said.
"Everyone just wanted continuity.
"They want it and we want it and then frustrations come out and it’s just some stupid stuff off the ball."
"It might have been a tactic, it might not have been a tactic. We don’t know."
But the Brumbies denied that they had intentionally approached the match looking to start scraps.
"We didn’t speak about it before the game but we knew that the Stormers were going to be very physical, particularly with their ball carriers," Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham said.
"We spoke about not being intimidated by any of it so when some of the stuff happened off the ball it was good to see that we stepped forward and looked after our mates there."
The Stormers have a bye this weekend while the Brumbies are in Johannesburg to take on the Lions on Saturday.
