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Penalty try drama splits NRL as Eels beat Knights

The Eels and Knights elimination final went right down to the wire but a moment of madness has split the NRL over a call.

Andrew McMurtryAndrew McMurtry
@AndrewMcMurtry
3 min read
September 12, 2021 - 7:12PM
The Eels are into week 2. Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images
The Eels are into week 2. Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images

The Parramatta Eels are into week two of the finals after a heart-stopping 28-20 win over the Newcastle Knights on Sunday afternoon.

It sees the Eels set up a mouth-watering clash with the Penrith Panthers next week while the Knights will look to next season.

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With three minutes to go, the Eels led just 22-20 with the game on the line.

Attacking the Knights line, Eels skipper Clint Gutherson kicked the most unconvincing grubber for Will Penisini, before the Eels rookie was taken out by Knights hat-trick hero Enari Tuala before he had gathered the ball and with no one in front of him.

Referee Ashley Klein sent the call upstairs to the Bunker who had to check the kick from Gutherson, the tackle and whether it was a professional foul or a penalty try.

On Saturday, the Titans dodged a bullet for a similar incident when Tyrone Peachey tackled Victor Radley without the ball.

However, Jayden Campbell was coming across in defence which saw it awarded as 10 in the bin.

The Gutherson kick was close — despite social media arguing he had dropped it — but the tackle was definitely a professional foul.

It came down to whether it was a penalty try or a sin bin.

The Bunker official said that “Kalyn Ponga has overshot the kick, meaning it’s an open line. In our opinion, Will Penisini would have collected that ball and scored a try.

“It’s a penalty try?” Greg Alexander said incredulously on Fox League.

“Given what we saw last night, that is hard to agree with,” Warren Smith added.

The Moment that saw the penalty try. Photo: Fox League
The Moment that saw the penalty try. Photo: Fox League

Speaking after the match, Cooper Cronk said the Radley call “was more of a penalty try” than Penisini’s.

“It didn’t play a major part because Parramatta were in front at that stage but to me it’s not a penalty try,” he said, saying that Radley was over the try line.

Braith Anasta said: “Not a penalty try, 10 minutes in the bin would have been sufficient. You couldn’t have been sure he was going to score that.”

Former Premiership winning coach Shane Flangan argued that the issue was the inconsistency.

“Last night was a great example — I think they got it right last night,” he said. “But then 24 hours later, we should have referred to that one last night that was not a try, tonight’s was definitely not a try.”

But social media had plenty of those who believed it was a try, including Fox League commentator Brenton Speed and Channel 9’s Phil Gould.

It finished a belter of a match with a controversial finish as momentum swung wildly throughout the match.

After Eels skipper Clint Gutherson kicked the ball out on the full with the kick-off, the Knights scored through Tuala in the opening 90 seconds.

The Eels quickly settled and struck back in the ninth minute when the ball went through the hands and Waqa Blake scored and the try was converted to give the Eels a 6-4 lead.

While the scoreboard didn’t change through the first 20 minutes, the Eels’ Blake Ferguson blew up over an ugly incident.

The Knights’ Sauaso Sue was put on report for what the commentators called a “crocodile roll”.

The ugly tackle. Photo: Fox Sports
The ugly tackle. Photo: Fox Sports

Ferguson was furious on the ground as he stood up and had to hobble off the ground for attention.

The Knights were the next to score in the 26th minute but then Mitchell Moses blew the game open for Parramatta, taking on the line and coming up trumps with a massive try in the 35th minute before putting Ferguson over in the corner to snatch the lead at the break.

Ferguson did the same on the other side of the break, scoring out wide after Moses floated a ball over the top only for the Knights to bounce back.

The Knights responded with a kick from Jake Clifford to Tuala and a Ponga bullet pass putting Tuala in for his hat-trick, missing two Knights and hitting Tuala marginally on the outside of Blake Ferguson to cut the deficit to two points.

But the penalty try finish sealed the result and ended the Knights season.

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-finals-live-parramatta-eels-vs-newcastle-knights/news-story/63aa908c125d6846a533a39d5d81fec7