Hurricanes coach Colin Cooper has called for greater clarity around the driving maul after his side was heavily penalised as it tried to defend several rumbles up field by the Bulls during their narrow 18-19 loss to the defending champions in Pretoria on Saturday morning.
After being outscored by two tries to one in the first half, the Bulls took the route one option in the second spell as they looked to turn around a 10-15 half-time deficit.
It worked with the Hurricanes eventually having Victor Vito sent to the sinbin with around 20 minutes to go as referee Steve Walsh adjudged he had deliberate collapsed the maul, despite the loose forward's protestations.
"He was telling me the ball was at the front and if you let him [the player] go then you can tackle him and tackle that ball," said Cooper.
"But if the ball goes to the back of the maul it's deemed a truck and trailer so there are some areas that I need to have a look at why he was sinbinned.
"He was charged with trying to collapse a maul but he said he attacked the ball.
There is some technical stuff going on in those mauls that we need clarity on the law."
Despite suffering its third loss on the road in South Africa, Cooper was pleased by the improved performance from his team, particularly the more disciplined defensive effort, after two disappointing showings against the Cheetahs and Stormers.
"I said we didn't play well against the Cheetahs and tactically we didn't get it right against the Stormers so we showed a lot of character today," the coach said.
"We've been here three weeks and it's been pretty tough. I was pretty proud with the way we united as a group, particularly on our defence. They only got one try [to Zane Kirchner] so that's a great defence.
"There were a couple of close calls that cost us really when we got some turnovers but they weren't allowed.
"But overall I'm very, very proud of the way they stood up and defended. We could have easily folded but we showed good character and that's what I'm pleased about."
The Hurricanes, who opened the scoring with tries to Karl Lowe and Jeremy Thrush, were in front until the 67th minute when Bulls first five-eighth Morne Steyn slotted his third penalty in the second half.
From there the Bulls put the squeeze on and despite the injection of fresh legs from the Hurricanes bench, they simply could not get their hands on the ball as the home side camped in the opposition half and strangled the life out of the game.
"If we had of been ahead in that last 10 minutes then they would have had to play rugby," said Cooper.
"Every ball they got their half-back bombed it and put pressure on us, particularly the young kids, with the high ball. If they kick it out they go back to their lineout and lineout drives.
"We didn't change tactically what we should have done. That's something we'll work on. They strangle you. If you can get points on them and keep the defence tight, like we managed to do, you force them to play instead of using the altitude for the high bombs and getting the chase on. Tactically they play very well."