Defence Coach Dale McIntosh admitted he was left 'confused' and 'disappointed' by the late disallowed try that cost Cardiff Blues against Zebre - but insisted the team should never have been in a position where they were chasing then game in the final minutes.
Blues slipped to a painful 15-10 defeat to Zebre in Parma in the RaboDirect PRO12 clash to hand the Italians a league double.
First half tries from Brendon Leonard and GiulioToniolatti put the hosts in control before a Tom Williams try sparked a fightback.
Late controversy then saw Harry Robinson cross to score in the final seconds to level the teams – and leave Gareth Davies with a kick to win the game.
However, one more twist saw celebrations cut abruptly short as the try was ruled out, after consultation with the TMO, by the referee for obstruction and left Blues questioning what offence had actually taken place.
McIntosh said: “We are confused by the end of the game. The decision made wasn’t correctly explained.
“When someone can’t give a number or person responsible for the crime committed it is not really evidence against not awarding a try.
“It is hard to handle because I felt we had done well to stick to our game through a lot of frustration. But we didn’t get what we deserved at the end.
“I’d love to say what the offence us. We have video evidence, and it is easy to say this in hindsight, but I can’t see where the misdemeanour happened.
“We’ve gone over the tapes and wording of the officials. We’re disappointed and confused why we can’t have more convincing reasoning why they didn’t award the try.
“The game is gone and we are disappointed to be in that position any way,” he added.
“We gave away some silly penalties and a couple of organisational errors in defence by certain individuals cost us two tries.
“We’ve got to reflect on the negatives to make sure that we put them right. We can sit here all day long and be frustrated by the decision for the last try, but we have got to move on.
“There was no lack of effort. We are pretty harsh taskmasters and we will name and shame when we need to. But it’s not a case of that today.
“I thought the boys were admirable in their attempt but a few decisions just didn’t go our way which meant we have come second."