Ricky Stuart rant and foul language mar Penrith Panthers’ 26-20 win over Canberra Raiders

AN all-time Ricky Stuart blow-up and foul mouthed on-field rants marred the Women in League clash between Canberra and Penrith.

A FURIOUS Ricky Stuart labelled the refereeing in Canberra on Sunday as “s***”, “laughable”, “poor” and “not at the standard of first grade”.

On a spiteful and controversial afternoon in the nation’s capital, Penrith escaped with a hard-fought 26-20 win to hand the Raiders their third straight defeat.

But NRL bosses would have been embarrassed by some of the language that was clearly audible on Fox Sports coverage during the Women in League round with the “F” and “C” bombs flying freely as rival captains Terry Campese and Peter Wallace made their frustrations known to referee Gavin Badger.

At one point Campese claimed he was head-butted by Penrith’s Tim Grant while David Shillington cost his team a crucial try after he reacted to elbow that landed James Segeyaro on report.

Raiders and Panthers players scuffle.

Raiders and Panthers players come together.

And while it was a much improved effort from Canberra following back-to-back 50-point floggings, after the game Stuart struggled to contain his rage and eventually cut short his media conference because he didn’t want to risk a $10,000 fine.

But no doubt the NRL will this morning analyse every word Stuart said with a view of seeing if he crossed the line of what is acceptable criticism of match officials.

Jamie Soward of the Panthers celebrates after a Matt Moylan try.

The Canberra coach blamed the performance of the match officials for almost causing two all-in brawls and said the decision not to award a critical try to Shaun Fensom midway through the second half was “the worst” clanger he has ever seen.

Canberra even said after the game Penrith players spoke apologetically about some of the calls that went against the Raiders.

Sam McKendry tackled.

“The reason there’s two blues is because the players are frustrated,” Stuart said.

“The referees caused those blues because players get frustrated.

“When you get shit refereeing, sorry, when you get poor refereeing decisions that are just incorrect, purely incorrect, that frustrates you because it’s a tight competition and every game’s a tight game.”

Asked if Shillington should not have responded to Segeyaro’s elbow midway through the second half given the Raiders were in possession, Stuart said: “I don’t know what type of character you are but if you copped a forearm to the head what would you do? You’d react.

Jarrod Croker (headgear) scores.

“But he was bringing that back to penalise us. He got it wrong.

“I’ve been involved with some clangers in my career - and I’ll have all my critics lining up saying I’m a whinger - but that takes the cake today.

“Our most important spectator at this game today was (referees’ boss Tony) Archer.

“He’s seen it first-hand so he doesn’t need to go back and review it.”

Stuart was also furious the Jarrod Croker was twice penalised for simply contesting bombs.

“We went up for the ball twice and we get penalised for tackling mid-air. That last one. That’s laughable,” he said.

“The referees today were not at the standard of first grade referees.”

Jarrod Croker (L) after scoring.

The Raiders went into the game under fire after being smashed by Manly and the Warriors in their last two games but scored their first try on just the second play of the game and then led 16-14 at halftime.

But in the end the Fensom no try proved crucial with Penrith going home with consecutive wins for the first time this year.

Clearly labelled it a “tough” win while Stuart said he was proud of his players’ effort.

“We weren’t good with regards to some of our play but that just leads to a bunch of blokes who are busting their arse, who are trying hard and making simple errors that are costing us,” Stuart added.

“And then when you get a display from the referees like that today, which you often get when you’re in this type of scenario that we are, it doesn’t help.

Reece Robinson scores on of two tries.

“I’ve seen some good ones but by gosh, that was poor.

“I’ll be labelled a whinger but if I don’t come out and tell the truth I’m not protecting and doing the right thing by my players.

Josh Mansour of the Panthers (R) celebrates his try with Adam Docker.

“What they say and think about me is not my issue. That’s the least of my worries what people think. My God I feel so sorry for the players in there.”

PENRITH 26 (D Simmons 2 J Mansour M Moylan J Segeyaro tries J Soward 3 goals) bt CANBERRA 20 (R Robinson 2 J Croker A Milford tries J Croker 2 goals) at GIO Stadium. Referee: Gavin Badger, Grant Atkins. Crowd: 8,892.

See how we covered the game live below.

Originally published as Ricky Stuart rant and foul language mar Penrith Panthers’ 26-20 win over Canberra Raiders