The four-time Super Rugby runners up suffered a 15-point drubbing at the hands of the Waratahs on Saturday but were on the receiving end of some woeful refereeing calls in the round 14 fixture.

Reeling from his side's sixth straight loss, Gold was measured in his critique of Saturday's match officials, whose performances drew heavy booing from the crowd of 18,500 at Allianz Stadium and had Australian and South African fans up in arms on social media.

A try to winger Sibusiso Sithole in the 72nd minute, which would have kept the Sharks within three points of the defending champions before the conversion, was disallowed on review from television match official George Ayoub, while a bungle from Australian referee Rohan Hoffmann denied the Sharks a kick for territory moments before half time.

Gold said he was not interested in calls for neutral referees in Super Rugby, only that the standard of officiating was up to scratch.

"I don't mind where the guy comes from, it doesn't bother me. Every coach just [wants] a referee who's competent and if he's the best man for the job then he can do it," he said.

"I'm not overly bothered about [a referee's nationality], I would like to believe there's too much at stake if a person came from a specific country.

"A handful of years ago we went down this route where the just assigned the best man for the job and the best referees got the best games. That's how they'll grow as referees and become the best referees in the world and go to the World Cup."

There were questionable calls that also went against the Waratahs, and at one stage NSW captain Dave Dennis had to remind a touch judge - over vociferous booing from a typically apathetic Sydney crowd - where a lineout should be thrown in.

But the Sharks found the rub of the green going against them more often than not. Captain Marco Wentzel said some of the calls were confusing.

"We're always perplexed when nothing is going your way, it felt like a lot of decisions were not going our way," Wentzel said.

"I don't want to moan about the ref, but a few calls I felt could have been referred, and if you've got the option to refer things you should do it. It is what it is."

NSW coach Michael Cheika declined to comment on the match officiating, but readily acknowledged the score line did not reflect the closeness of the encounter.

"We're just staying in there somehow. I'm not quite sure how," Cheika said.

"I suppose we just expect such a high standard of play from ourselves, but tonight I think our effort was there.

"Perhaps we were even trying a bit too hard. They were so keen to get the ball moving again, get the movement back in our game."

The match is likely to spark discussion this week over the standard of refereeing across the competition.

Gold headed off criticism by praising SANZAR referees' boss Lyndon Bray for his efforts to improve the pool of experience and expertise.

"I believe Lyndon Bray is working unbelievably hard trying to improve the refereeing and I have a huge amount of respect for what he and his team are doing," he said, adding that, at 11th spot on the ladder, he was in no position to whinge.

"I don't feel I'm in a position to be commenting on the referees at the moment, I just have a lot of faith in Lyndon ... I know what his vision is and it's a pretty difficult vision for him to achieve, and I hope he's given all the support he can be because the game needs it."