VIDEO: 'Ref was tough on the Bulls'

Mitchell made the statement after the Bulls' 17-29 defeat to the Stormers at Newlands on Saturday.

"The Referee [Glen Jackson] was tough on us. We didn't get much consistency or the rub of the green. Especially at the scrum time when you have knees on the ground, the calls could go either way,"

Mitchell did clarify his comment, stating that he would have to review the match.

Tries from Damian Willemse and Wilco Louw put the Stormers in control early on, the hosts racing into a 12-0 lead inside 11 minutes.

Lood de Jager and Jason Jenkins, in addition to a Handre Pollard penalty, made sure the Bulls kept the game alive.

Just after halftime, they took a 17-12 lead when Jason Jenkins crossed the line for his second try.

However, unfortunately for the visitors, they were unable to stop a resurgent Stormers and buckled under the hosts' pressure.

"It was a very untidy performance by us," Mitchell said.

"The Stormers need to be given credit for their performance. We got ourselves back in at 17-12, but not everything was going for us.

"Even some of the refereeing decisions were challenging. However, we were able to remain calm and got ourselves back into the match.

"At 17-12, to not take command of possession in the match is something we are going to have to learn,"

"The character from us was good. I said to the guys you don't have to be perfect here but you have to learn to fight.

"At the end of the day, they won the forward battle, in my honest view, so we will have to take that on the chin. I think it's important to acknowledge when you get beaten. They won the early races and dug deep when it mattered,"

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