Knights should have been awarded vital penalty
BRETT KEEBLE
16 Aug, 2011 04:00 AM
THE NRL has conceded the Knights should have been awarded a potential game-tying penalty in the closing stages of their 20-12 loss to the Warriors at Mt Smart Stadium last Saturday.NRL referees co-coach Stuart Raper said Warriors prop Sam Rapira should have been penalised for stripping the ball from opposite number Richie Faaoso in a tackle in the 74th minute.
Referee Adam Devcich instead ruled Faaoso lost the ball and gave the Warriors a scrum feed.
But Raper was comfortable with the decision by video referee Chris Ward to award Warriors skipper Simon Mannering a try in the 63rd minute, despite Newcastle protests that the ball brushed the wrist of Warriors centre Joel Moon in the lead-up.
Mannerings try levelled the scores at 12-12 then James Maloney converted to give the home side a 14-12 lead which they did not relinquish.
The Warriors led 14-12 when Faaoso had the ball stripped 15 metres out from their line almost directly in front of the posts.
It was the first tackle directly from a tap restart after the Knights had turned down a 35-metre kick at goal, which had been the result of a stripping penalty against Warriors pivot Feleti Mateo on Knights forward Zane Tetevano.
Knights captain Kurt Gidley has since second-guessed his decision not to take the kick after the penalty against Mateo.
The former Parramatta Eel scored a converted try in the 77th minute to stretch the Warriors lead to a match-winning eight points.
There was a strip. Someone punched it out so we missed that, Raper said.
We just missed it at the last moment. He [Rapira] got a sneaky one in on us.
Raper said Devcich was in no danger of being dropped from the NRL this weekend.
These guys make thousands of calls a game, and sometimes they miss a couple here or there, he said.
We start dropping blokes for small errors like that and [Rapers refereeing co-coach] Billy Harrigan will be making a comeback, because we wont have enough referees.
Youve got to be fair. Players dont get dropped when they drop the ball or miss a tackle that leads to a try.
Knights coach Rick Stone believed the decision not to penalise Rapira had a major influence on the result but acknowledged some of his players also made mistakes.
Thats a big play, but you get that, Stone said.
Possibly if wed taken the kick just prior to that from the Zane penalty, it would have been all right, but when you miss those ones and their influence on a game are pretty big like that one was, thats definitely disappointing, but everyones human.
Ive got blokes who made mistakes on the weekend who havent made many mistakes for us in the last few weeks, so you just wear it and move on and understand its hopefully just a little bit of a glitch.
After speaking yesterday with video referee Russell Smith, who reviewed the game but did not officiate on it, Raper was convinced the ball did not come into contact with Moons arm in the in-goal scramble leading up to Mannerings try.
Raper said they synchronised replays from several camera angles of the moment Moon and Knights winger Aku Uate came together contesting Shaun Johnsons grubber kick.
The Mannering try, were comfortable with. We didnt see a deflection, Raper said.
Stone said he had no problem with the Mannering try.
I thought it was a try. I didnt see any extra rotation of the ball, when Moon possibly could have touched it, Stone said.
Stone was certain Gidley would have taken the kick had Rapira been penalised.
Look, you live and die by your decisions, and we ended up making a few errors after that and allowed them to score another try, he said.
Im disappointed about the loss, and I know the boys are, but Im not making it the end of the world like a lot of people are. Weve got three games to prove ourselves and get ourselves in the eight under our own steam, so we know what weve got to do.
