NRL regrets six-again blunders
Graham Annesley has declared the NRL won’t ditch the six-again rule despite three blunders in Canberra’s loss to St George Illawarra.
NRL head of football Graham Annesley has defended the six-again rule despite conceding Canberra could have been awarded three penalties rather than fresh sets in the last 20 seconds of their 12-10 loss to St George Illawarra.
The Raiders were attacking the Dragons’ line in search of a late try on Sunday when St George Illawarra captain Ben Hunt was guilty of three infringements.
The first two calls – an offside and a flop on prop Joe Tapine on the penultimate play of the game – were rewarded with six-agains by referee Peter Gough.
The third was where Hunt was not square at marker on the last play of the game and he rushed out to stop dummy-half Tom Starling.
Gough didn’t signal for a penalty and it meant the 11th-placed Raiders were cut adrift from the battle for a finals spot by four points.
A penalty would have allowed the Raiders the chance to tie up the game and send it to golden point.
Canberra coach Ricky Stuart claimed Gough lacked “courage” in not penalising Hunt, with Annesley conceding the Raiders could have been awarded three separate penalties.
“In most cases when you see that kind of tackle (to stop Starling) it results in a penalty,” Annesley said.
“In our view that should have been a penalty.
“There are three incidents; the offside, the flop and then there is the move around to tackle the dummy-half.
“Any of those three could have been determined to be a professional foul and a penalty and possibly a sin bin.”
Annesley said Stuart had been spoken with the NRL’s referees department on Monday.
He also claimed the six-again rule was here to stay and said the NRL wouldn’t revert to a two-referee system.
“We think that a single referee has added a lot to the game and has allowed the game to continue,” Annesley said.
“The six-again has been a bonus for the referees in allowing them to try and get a level of compliance with stopping the game.”
Annesley also said referee Gerard Sutton made a mistake by penalising Sydney Roosters hooker Sam Verrills for a tackle on Penrith’s Scott Sorensen on Friday.
In the 39th minute, Verrills made a straightforward tackle on Sorensen who nosedived towards the ground, earning a penalty which led to a try to Viliame Kikau on the next set.
Roosters coach Trent Robinson, whose side lost 26-18, called it a “horrible decision” and Annesley concurred.
“In the history of the game, most would agree that it is a copybook around-the-legs tackle,” he said.
“We don’t believe there is any reason why this tackle should have been penalised.”
By: George Clarke, AAP
Comments on RugbyPass
Amazing. The losing team’s ratings are higher than the winning team’s. Mallia definitely didn’t deserve a y. What game were you watching? Should have got a w or an x. ADP hardly featured in that second half. At one point I wondered when he’d been subbed. Seems to me as if he gets an automatic 9 just for getting onto the team sheet.
1 Go to commentsI’m sorry. That second half was far from enthralling. It was painful to watch.
1 Go to commentsVery generous! If you’d missed the game, reading this you’d conclude that it was the Quins front row that cost them the game. Marler getting a blanket 6 for his demented contribution to the game. Puzzling.
1 Go to commentsCan’t see Toulouse beating Leinster at this rate.
7 Go to commentsADP was having a very average game until winning that penalty for Toulouse, sticking his big head in the way. “The head of God”?
7 Go to commentsHarlequins doing their best to do as little damage as possible with all the possession. Looks like they skipped catch and pass drills this week.
7 Go to commentsSeeing pictures of Jacques high-fiving it with Irish players breaks my heart. Too soon. I need more time.
1 Go to commentsquins is all over the place. The minute they get the ball they panic. Quins can still win tho just need to win all rucks otherwise just don't bother.
7 Go to commentsGreat wins for the male & female kiwi sides. Ireland not far away..
1 Go to commentsWhy is this dude getting so much coverage? Usually knobs like this get cancelled.
2 Go to commentsWow. What was that? A 3 million word meandering article about what exactly?
2 Go to commentsNice piece of writing. And yes the Sharks pulled a rabbit from the hat and were a little lucky with that penalty try that wasn’t given… however the Sharks (with their resources) should be way more consistent and should be putting teams like Claremont away for breakfast. I expect more from them and hope they kick on now.
8 Go to commentsJust what the Sharks needed to get things going in the right direction Defence on the outside really creates havoc for the whole team and needs to be addressed.
8 Go to commentsWell done guys both teams will be ready to play knockout rugby.
1 Go to commentsSurprised that Ramos isn't starting at 15. But what a squad of galacticos!
2 Go to commentsWhy is it a snub? What journalistic garbage is that? Sure the guy is a great player, but there are plenty of loose forwards and not all of them can be Springboks. Also, I know of no-one who doubts Rassie’s judgment. South Africa has a conveyor belt of loose forwards that just keeps producing, so the competition is intense. I certainly wish him well, but there is no entitlement and there is no snub.
17 Go to commentsSkelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
6 Go to commentsSpot on Ben. Dead right. Havili looked great at 10. Easily the highest rugby IQ of any NZ player these days. Getting a kick charged down is a result of getting used to adjusting your depth to the line at 10, which he will sort out with time. But other than that it was an outstanding first effort in that position this year. I think the NZ media has misunderstood this directive from Razor. Havili might rank behind B Barrett this year, but Beuden is 33 this month and won't last much longer. DMaC is great but flaky and not really a test match animal (his efforts in Dunedin versus Aus last year for example). If Razor can't have Mounga, DMaC is too unstructured for Razor (and is just too small for test rugby). Havili will end up our first choice first five, and in partnership with Jodie will be excellent. Two triple threat operators in tandem, and big bodies and tough tacklers to boot. Jordoe will be the ABs goal kicker. I am an Aucklander and Blues (and Warriors) fan, but Havili at 10 is going to be sensational in time… he can be the best first five in the world by the end of this year. No question.
6 Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
8 Go to commentsGood riddance
1 Go to comments