Parramatta survive late scare and controversial call to down Manly 19-16
The NRL’s move back to one referee has come under the microscope after Manly were denied a win over Parramatta due to a controversial forward pass call.
Sea Eagles
Don't miss out on the headlines from Sea Eagles. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Tom Trbojevic was adamant the pass he threw went backwards.
And NRL head of football Graham Annesley confirmed the Sea Eagles were robbed after a forward pass call went against them in Parramatta’s 19-16 win.
The match deserved to go down to the wire and Sea Eagles winger Ruben Garrick looked like he had snatched a come-from-behind win in the final moment of the match only for the Trbojevic pass to be ruled forward by the touch judge with 41 seconds left. Touch judge Liam Kennedy made the controversial call instantly but Annesley quickly said the call was wrong and distanced the reduction in a referee as a cause for the error.
“It was called by the touch judge,” Annesley said. “A second referee would have had no impact on that decision.”
A controversial finish to the #NRLEelsManly clash! Forward or not? #NRL pic.twitter.com/Wxd8xmnTLt
— Telegraph Sport (@telegraph_sport) June 6, 2020
Kayo is your ticket to the 2020 NRL Telstra Premiership. Every game of every round Live & On-Demand with no-ad breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
Trbojevic thought the pass was fine.
“I thought it was back but I didn’t get a good look at it because I was taken out,” Trbojevic said. “You get calls some days, you don’t get calls other days. That’s just part of the game.”
It would have been the only time the Eels surrendered the lead in the match had the try been given. Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler said his side “won the game”.
“It just confirms the night we had,” Hasler said. “We didn’t get much rub of the green.”
Hasler was also critical of the one referee.
“The other thing I saw tonight was a real inconsistency in the six again call,” Hasler said. “I will be talking to (referee boss) Bernard Sutton about that.”
Parramatta halfback Mitchell Moses had no doubt it was the correct call.
“It was forward,” Moses said. “100 per cent. We had one last week the same. It happens. I’m just happy they made the right call.”
The loss was the Sea Eagles’ second this year while Parramatta have won their first four games to start a season for the first time in 31 years.
MORE NRL NEWS
Read the details of Dragons review
The 14 coaches clamouring for a chance
ERROR MOUNTS
It was the 90 seconds of madness which cost the Sea Eagles big time. Two handling errors - the first by Trbojevic the second by Danny Levi in consecutive sets led to Parramatta tries. The first happened with Manly’s final touch of the opening half when Trbojevic tried to push a near impossible pass after the Sea Eagles had been granted a six to go. The second was by Levi in Manly’s first set of the second half. Parramatta scored each time to open up an 18-2 lead before the Sea Eagles raced in 14 unanswered points with Jorge Taufua scoring twice.
Hasler said he loved his team’s “never say die attitude”.
“I was impressed with the way this group fought back,” Hasler said. “They never gave up.”
LISTEN! This week on The Daily Telegraph podcast Mobbsy, Mick and Buzz talk through financial irresponsibility of clubs after just one round, Paul McGregor’s St George Illawarra future, Dean Pay being under pressure at Canterbury PLUS John Bateman’s injury and what it means for the Canberra Raiders’ premiership hopes
SLICK SIVO
Winger Maika Sivo has made his mark as a noted tryscorer since bursting onto the scene. But the flying winger laid on the first two Eels tries with late off-loads.
Eels coach Brad Arthur was critical of his team’s second half.
“I thought the way we started was good,” Arthur said. “Both teams were physical. We wanted to hang on defensively under a bit of pressure. We didn’t have to do a lot of defence last week. It was interesting to see how we handled that. We kept turning up, scrambled. The tries they did score they had to get to the last tackle to score.
“We just lost our way for a period in the second half.”
PARRAMATTA 19 (D Brown K Evans M Jennings tries M Moses 3 goals M Moses field goal) bt MANLY 16 (J Taufua 2 D Walker tries R Garrick 2 goals) at Bankwest Stadium. Referee: Ben Cummins
Originally published as Parramatta survive late scare and controversial call to down Manly 19-16