Dive' has Broncos fuming at Orford
By Steve Mascord, Suncorp Stadium
September 11, 2005
The Sun-Herald
Storm 24 Broncos 18
Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett last night accused Melbourne halfback Matt Orford of conning video referee Chris Ward by "taking a dive" to ensure a crucial Broncos try was disallowed in the Storm's gripping second qualifying final victory.
The Victorian franchise upset Brisbane in the finals for a second consecutive year at Suncorp Stadium, hanging on for a 24-18 win after leading 18-4 at half-time.
But the home side was despondent at Ward's decision in the 57th minute to deny centre Brent Tate a try, ruling that Orford was illegally obstructed when dummy runner Darren Smith ran into him.
"Sadly, they all got conned," Bennett said after his side's sixth consecutive defeat.
"Anyone with half a mind realises that Darren Smith did not obstruct anyone. What happened was the player [Orford] obviously realised he'd taken the wrong read, so he took the dive.
"It was pretty obvious to blind Freddy. That's fair enough. You've made one mistake, you try and get the rebound.
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"If that's an obstruction, we won't be able to send decoys out any more. "It was a pretty crucial call in the scheme of things.
Tate agreed, saying: "He [Orford] just misread it and plain-and-simply took a dive. He's made a mistake in defence, taken a dive and it's come off for him."
Orford was less than impressed with the accusations levelled at him.
"I don't think you'll see any Melbourne players taking dives. We are a fair team and it's not our go," he said. :lol:
"Second rowers like that, coming through at speed, they haven't got much footwork in them and sometimes they take out defenders. That's what happened."
The Storm's jubilation at their third win in four games against Brisbane had already been tempered by the possible loss of skipper Robbie Kearns (shoulder) and fullback Billy Slater (ankle) for the rest of the season.
The drama surrounding the disallowed try was a fitting postscript to the liveliest of finals, with Melbourne dismaying the partisan crowd mostly by taking the game by the throat and then giving the same fans the opportunity to cheer their side home when they were trailing by just six points for the final five minutes.
