I don't know if anyone else picked up on it but Sam Burgess was fired up after giving away a penalty and absolutely gave it to both refs and accused them of being biased by giving all the 50/50 calls to the Eels. I'm sure every body saw that part.
Then literally 2 plays later Sam Burgess put on a big hit and fired he up he got up shouting at the refs to call for a knock on, there was a bit of a delay and then they obliged. Replays showed no knock on.
A few plays later Sam Burgess trips over his own feet running a decoy and the refs give him a penalty for being taken out.
Two rulings that never were, awarded to a player who had clearly just intimidated the referees.
For the next 20 minutes after that the Eels haven't received 1 penalty but have had a player sent to the bin for 'consecutive penalties' including that penalty where Burgess fell over his own feet.
Say what you want about Burgess's comments, credit to him for changing the momentum of the game by getting in the heads of the referees. But neither referee should be in first grade for a very long time, you shouldn't let a player influence your performance or the game in such a manner.
There's a difference between referees who make an error here or there - we're all human. What we've seen tonight is two refs who just aren't up to being NRL referees, not yet anyway.
