RUGBY LEAGUE
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Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart didn’t hesitate in letting everyone know how displeased he was following Penrith Panthers halfback Peter Wallace’s winning field goal in Saturday’s NRL match at Carrington Park.
Stuart was left fuming because there was no action taken by the referee against the Panthers, who he claims stopped his players from making a block attempt on Wallace’s shot in the dying minutes of the match.
The kick was sent to the bunker for review and the Panthers defence was cleared of any wrongdoing, allowing Penrith a 19-18 win.
“There’s a new rule this year in place where you’re not allowed to have blockers impede a player that’s chasing down the kicker of the field goal. We had a player who was impeded by two blockers,” Stuart said.
Raiders halfback Aiden Sezer soon after had his own field goal attempt charged down by James Segeyaro.
Stuart again saw his team on the end of a refereeing error.
“I didn’t see him onside. I saw him offside,” he said.
“If you’re offside you’re offside. Three of the four times we went over the line today and the bunker found a way that they weren’t tries. He was offside.
“They’ve now got three or four days to try and create a reason as to why this wasn’t a wall – because there were two blokes standing in the road – impeding players that can’t come out off the line now.
“Next week, if I do that to a field goal am I allowed to? No.”
Stuart said the call on both the Wallace field goal and Sezer’s attempted reply was a kick in the guts to the travelling supporters.
“It is so disappointing after a game out there where there’s a couple of errors by both teams, but they fought hard, 34 players out there playing really courageous who put on a good show for the people of Bathurst here and all our supporters from Canberra – I was so happy about the big contingent turning up to watch us – but we’ve got to come down here talking about this crap again,” he said.
“The game needs to do something about it where we’re not walking in here talking about this again.
“I feel sorry for the referees. The referee has been pushed into a corner here. The referee should have just ruled on what he had seen instead of sending it to the bloke up here [in the bunker].
“I feel sorry for the referees. They’re that nervous about making a decision, the poor buggers, that they don’t. They just send it up to the other referee.”
The Raiders had fought back from an 18-6 deficit to level the game, carrying all the momentum into the final stages of the match.
Stuart said the Panthers’ history this season of slipping up in close finishes was something the Raiders had prepared for.
“We prepared all week to play these guys in the last 10 minutes of the match. We knew the match would come down to the last 10,” he said.
“That’s when Penrith have been winning or losing their battles ... [and] it continually happens with Penrith at the moment.
“That’s what makes you frustrated, we prepared for what we got into.”