Kings skipper: Ref was soft on Stormers

Port Elizabeth - Kings captain Schalk Ferreira believes his side was on the wrong end of some questionable refereeing in their 41-10 loss to the Stormers in Port Elizabeth on Saturday. 

With the Kings making a nuisance of themselves and trailing just 5-3 at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, things boiled over just past the 20 minute mark when Stormers loose forward Rynhardt Elstadt got into a scuffle with Kings No 8 Ruan Lerm. 

Japanese referee Shuhei Kubo had a look at the incident on the big screen and decided to award the Kings a penalty despite replays suggesting that the infringement from Elstadt - he gripped Lerm around the scruff of the neck and lunged forward with his fist - may have warranted a harsher punishment. 

"I thought for a punch like that he should have got a yellow card, minimum," Ferreira said after the match.

"I think they got off softly there.

"Not to be negative on the ref, but I felt that he thought the Stormers were the dominating team so every 50/50 call went to their side."

Ferreira felt his side was better than the scoreline suggested, but he bemoaned their inability to finish off their opportunities. 

"I am disappointed. We didn't just come here to be on the pitch. We wanted to win. There is a problem if you step off the field and you lost and you're happy about it," he said.

"I don't think the scoreline reflected our performance. We created some great opportunities which we couldn't finish. The only we can focus on is executing our game plan and that's how we get judged, not on the scoreline."

The Kings are next in action when they travel to Durban to take on the Sharks on Saturday.