Good wrap up MacDougall.
I try miserably to be unbiased when I watch a game, and I didn't like many of the calls, but I could see how the referee may have been correct on many. I thought the angles on Smith to Topou were too inconclusive to say forward, I thought the advantage was OK, I thought that De Gois was unlucky to be penalised for Galloway's poor play the ball, Gallen was stripped on the line (but it is a poor rule and teams shouldn't be penalised in that situation), the passes in the last try were OK (again the tv shots were not convincing that the passes were forward, and Ryan did so well it would have been cruel to deny it on those views), Utai was out, Tigers were offside charging down the Carney field goal shot, and Best did double move by the rules (though if the video ref says he would have awarded it, we can look forward to plenty more debates this year..). I can also see how an argument could be made against all of these.
The one that really annoyed me was the offside penalty after a charge down. The referee just got the rule wrong, and that is very poor. This is not the same as knowing the rule but seeing the situation differently from fans of the team that are penalised. To not know the rule or not follow it in a pressure situation was disgraceful. And it didn't cost the Sharks the game necessarily, but it may have.
As to the teams:
Ryan was great, and is definitely underrated, and Utai was solid. Humble looked the goods. Ellis was good, Farah looked dangerous at times but needs more, Tedescoe had a great start, poor kid, hope he is OK, Marshall was cool when it counted, Tigers were unlucky to lose two key players to injury. They also didn't play very well for much of the game, but the Sharks were way worse in the first half. But the Tigers showed they can score great tries under pressure, which has always been their trademark, and will carry them a long way.
Carney looked dangerous and looks to have solved several of the our issues from the last few years, which bodes well (poor attack on the line, and inneffective centres- Carney helped both). Gallen did well to even be out there, having been in hospital earlier this week, and the weather was terrible for league and a man who had been ill- BunniesMan is kidding to attack his efforts, he was great. Bakuya is already a Shark's fan favourite, but he again showed why. The prop rotation looks better.
The two worries for the Sharks (that have been poor for years, and hadn't improved) were the errors (Matt Wright WTF?) and the poor decision making under pressure (early try double movement stretch, kick at goal in last 5 mins, early field goal shot etc).
For Tigers fans to say the Tigers were poor (they were, and they were completely outplayed in the last half hour of regular time), but the Sharks were "near their best" with about 30% completions in the first half (not counting penalties and the try) is laughable. The Sharks could hardly have played a worse first half, and that is a real worry for them. I suspect some Tigers fans are a bit manic in their denial of the Tigers form and talking up the Sharks as close to their best as their team, the favourites for the premiership, just won in extra time (in controversial circumstances) against one of the wooden spoon favourites. Well there is lots of season left to properly judge the form of both teams.
But the good thing for the Sharks is how good they looked when they had a reasonable (not stellar, but good) completion rate in the second half.
Either side could easily have won, and a few different decisions or bounces of the ball or better execution (better goal kicking) could have given either side a more comfortable try or two win. That is usually the case in close games. Both sides showed good and and bad signs, and both will want to improve.
