When playing against 177 in the UTC regional eliminations we experienced similar defense. We were told by the referees it was incidental and just went back to the game. We are partially to blame, as we modified the gripper from NJ and it was rather loose at grabbing the tubes, if the change hadn't of been made it probably wouldn't have been a problem.
http://thebluealliance.net/tbatv/match.php?matchid=1339
Around second 0:48
It is just another factor of the game, you have to work around it. 177 plays very tight defense and makes for a very challenging game.