It will come as little consolation to Cronulla, but NRL referees’ coach Bill Harrigan admits they were dudded in Sunday’s 17-16 golden-point loss to Wests Tigers.
The Sharks were on the verge of a thrilling upset when halfback Todd Carney’s field goal attempt was charged down in the first minute of extra-time, with the ball bouncing towards Wests Tigers’ five-eighth Benji Marshall.
Marshall knocked on as the defence moved in to tackle him, with referee Jared Maxwell penalising the Sharks for being in front of the kicker.
The Tigers marched upfield from the penalty to set up Marshall’s match-winning field goal at the end of the set.
But Harrigan admitted on Monday that Maxwell got it wrong.
NRL rules stipulate that players are deemed to be on-side following a charge-down.
“That decision was incorrect,” Harrigan wrote on NRL.com on Monday.
“The players were no longer offside due to the act of the charge-down. The touch judge and the referee got that decision wrong.”
Harrigan said the correct decision would have been to award the Sharks a scrum in the Tigers’ red zone, following a knock-on by Marshall on the same play.
Sharks’ coach Shane Flanagan was irate following the match, claiming refereeing decisions cost his side the two competition points.
Flanagan also questioned a no-try ruling on centre Colin Best late in the match, but Harrigan confirmed the correct decision had been made to rule Best had committed a double movement while scoring the try.
“I 100 per cent agree with the double-movement ruling on the Colin Best no-try call, as does referees co-coach Stuart Raper,” Harrigan said.
“Colin Best’s arm carrying the ball hits the ground, his momentum stops, and then there is a second effort to get the ball over the line.
“At no stage does the tackler drop off him, so the tackle was correctly deemed complete.
“There is no grey area with this ruling; it is a clear double-movement.”
In his post-match comments, Flanagan claimed video referee Steve Clark had indicated to him the try would’ve been awarded if it had been sent upstairs – but Harrigan said no conversations took place between Sharks’ officials and the referees.
“It is important to make clear that at the end of the game or at any time during the game, there was no conversation between Sharks’ officials and the referees,” he said.
