That was a great game, with all sorts of frustrations thrown in for both sides, coaches and neutrals.
Both sides completed at a very high rate, despite excellent attack, in terrible conditions, until the end. At the end the Sharks lost the ball a bunch of times when they'd otherwise been so good, giving the Dragons a bunch of chances to snatch the win, who then ironically dropped those chances (after taking such brilliant ones earlier).
Sharks forwards dominated the middle of the game, with newbies Rudolph and Hunt playing blinders. Johnson found the game easy when they were running forward, but lost control a bit with set finishes at the end. Sharks had some tough injuries, and were unlucky with the first Dragon's try, possibly the obstruction call, and had some outrageously good tries needed to break their defense, though Dugan out leaves a worrying hole in the left side defense.
Dragons backs were mixed (wingers) to spectacular (Dufty and Lomax). Dufty and Lomax were as good as you'll want to see, with some brilliance you wouldn't believe even in ideal conditions, and it was a really unfair break for Dufty that both the big plays (Sharks controversial try, and missed grounding at the end) went against him. Dragons had terrible injury luck also, and faced a lot of resets in the first half, and possibly the worst bunker decision you'll see go against them.
I don't like smacking officials around, most decisions have an air of 50/50 and fans tend to get upset when two or three of those calls go against their team (not unreasonably, but that is the nature of 50/50 calls).
But some of the calls from officials in this game were very frustrating. The try awarded to Williams was just wrong. You can't say it decided the game, as there was a lot of time left, the Sharks were on a roll, and they'd have gotten the ball again in good position. But you can say it was a terrible call and a big moment.
I also felt the first try to the Dragons was very lucky. Lose the ball like that in the field of play and it will be called lost in the tackle 99% of the time.
Ramien's no try was odd. Technically the attackers were stopped in the line of defense, but they stopped before the line, which then went up to where they were. Since those defenders who moved up to the still attacking players were not at all affected by the attackers, I'll be curious to see if this gets exploited by defences in the future (just what we need, more incentive for defenders to not do their job and rely on the bunker to save them with an obstruction).
Mulitalo's dropped play the ball was a tough call too, that the bunker probably had to rule on one way or another (as it was a captain's challenge) but is really a time when we could easily have a call of "pick it up and play the ball, no side gets punished". The defender did hit the ball with his boot, but wasn't looking at it or trying to, and Mulitalo played it quickly and sloppily near a defenders foot, not safely under his own.
It is a shame the game will be remembered for the officials, as the attack on display from both sides, in pretty poor conditions, was very good. If either side could show a bit of defensive grit, they'd both be in this competition to their eyeballs producing attack like that. Sadly, both sides look like flat track bullies that can lay on the points when things go right, but can't hold on desperately against a good opposition.
