Commentators have been left to ask for common sense once again after the Cowboys were brutally denied the attempt at a key moment.
NRL fans and commentators have been stunned by a moment that seems to have cost the North Queensland Cowboys a chance to win.
The Sharks won 26-12 in North Queensland, but a controversial moment changed the game after a 12-point swing in just two minutes.
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The Sharks led 14-12 at the break and it was still the score in the 59th minute, when two dramatic minutes turned the game around.
North Queensland skipper Jason Taumalolo burst across the line after a gentle step, advancing on Sharks winger Will Kennedy for a rehearsal storm that would have given the Cowboys the lead, second classified.
However, as with most calls to the rugby league in 2022, the call was called into question by a line ball decision.
As Taumalolo exploded across the line, Cowboys prostitute Reece Robson ran in support, only advancing on her captain when he was hit by Kennedy.
But when Taumalolo threw himself over the line, Robson was in the way of Braden Hamlin-Uele and Toby Rudolf, who could barely have gotten past the Cowboys striker before planting the ball.
“Does Robson have a right to be there?” Queensland’s great Brent Tate told the Fox League. “He plays as a support runner, he’s not in front of Taumalolo.”
Steve Roach said he believed it was an obstruction, though he believed coverage advocates would have stopped the attempt.
Brenton Speed argued, “He’s there to support Taumalolo in case he needs it; then you want him to disappear so Hamlin-Uele can make the showdown.”
“I don’t really agree with that, but that’s the rule,” Roach said. “He couldn’t make an attempt. I don’t think he would have stopped it.”
“The blocker is a ridiculous rule, I don’t understand that when we talk about the feel of the game and let the game flow, it’s a very silly decision,” Tate said. “We talk about common sense in the box. There’s no common sense in this rule.”
Speed said it was only the impetus that brought Robson ahead of Taumalolo, adding, “This will be debated next week.”
The next set, the Sharks rubbed the salt at will, while Ben Hampton, five-eighths of the Cowboys, looked for Teig Wilton.
“What a turning point, sliding door moment in this game,” Speed said. “The Cowboys denied an attempt by one end, they gave them one by the other.”
After the game, Cowboys coach Todd Payten said he didn’t like the look of the penalty spot.
“No doubt a couple of those great moments went against us, that one hurts, and they went down and scored a try that should have stopped,” Payten told the post-match press conference.
“The game is in balance, I don’t like it just because it rewards the player for playing a play-off, and then the fact that he intentionally climbs to the back of the supporting game.
“I don’t know how Jason will stop either. I would have pushed him more into the goal.”
Taumalolo did not know what the officials wanted Robson to do.
“Robbo (Robson) was supporting me and obviously he was there and whatever he wanted to do, he can’t disappear and give way,” Taumalolo said.
“He was there to support you in case you overtook him.”
But the fans were furious at the denied attempt.
AAP’s Fraser Barton wrote, “Bunker has lost the plot with Taumalolo’s rehearsal. Hamlin-Uele would in no way have stopped him from that position.”
Broadcaster Ryan Phelan posted: “This is a classic attempt by Jason Taumalolo !!… oh, wait a minute.”
ABC’s Michael Rennie added, “No one stopped JT so close to the line. It’s ridiculous.”
The BBC’s Tuslen Tollett tweeted: “I really despair at what Rugby League rules have become.”
Former NRL star Jamie Soward opined, “Now this call to the other extreme has completely changed this game.”
NRL Supreme Phil Gould called it a “shameful call.”
The 12-point swing saw the Sharks take a 20-12 lead, before Sione Katoa walked away for a long-distance test from a scrum to close out the game.
The Sharks have now won five games in a row and have tied with the Cowboys with 26 points of competition.
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