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Blues blow up over refs' blunders
Brad Walter, Glenn Jackson and Steve Mascord | June 4, 2009
JARRYD HAYNE led a chorus of complaints from frustrated NSW players and officials about a try he had disallowed, a blocking penalty against the Blues winger and other rulings as their epic comeback fell just short of an upset Origin I victory.
Hayne, who was close to man of the match in a losing NSW side, slammed the decision of video referees Bill Harrigan and Tim Mander to disallow an eighth-minute try that would have given the new-look Blues a perfect start, and a penalty against him six minutes later for impeding opposing winger Israel Folau.
Both incidents were immediately followed by Queensland tries, and Hayne admitted the momentum of the game shifted after that as the Maroons moved to within one win of a historic fourth series victory.
Blues coach Craig Bellamy and most of his players later claimed Hayne should have at least been awarded the benefit of the doubt and awarded a try after repeated replays failed to prove decisively whether he had put a foot on the touchline as he raced 40 metres to score.
"The video ref took about 10 minutes just to … replay after replay, and it was obvious he wasn't sure," Hayne said. "It was a 50-50 call, and it's the attacking team which gets the benefit of the doubt, unless the rules have changed or something.
"It was clear that the foot wasn't on the line. That's what I thought. I think even the Queensland players thought that. They weren't at the spot where I ran out, they were 10 metres from the line. Usually if it's a clear no-try everyone's set up where it happens."
Veteran prop Luke Bailey added: "From the reverse angle, I didn't see any chalk at all. But they were determined to not award it. They had 35 angles and disallowed it somehow."
Asked about the decision at the post-match press conference, Bellamy said he could not understand how the try was not awarded, saying it was looked at "seven or eight times".
"Where's the benefit of the doubt?" he said. "I don't know whether he's seen the boot touch the sideline on the eighth go or the seventh go, when he couldn't see it in the first, second, third or fourth. To me that's benefit of the doubt. I don't know how he could come up with that decision to be quite honest."
Centre Michael Jennings also believed Hayne deserved the benefit of the doubt, while second-rower Ben Creagh said: "When the video referee looks at it so many times it's obviously pretty line ball. Most of us thought it was a try at the time and we still do now."
Creagh insisted the Blues did not drop their bundle after the controversial rulings but Hayne admitted the momentum changed. "Things just didn't go our way after that," he said.
Hayne, who was later rewarded with a 68th-minute try that put the Blues within reach of an unlikely victory until Darius Boyd scored as the full-time siren sounded, was also highly critical of the decision to penalise him for blocking Folau. The penalty led to Greg Inglis's first try after 15 minutes and gave the Maroons a 12-2 lead after Billy Slater has scored five minutes earlier.
"The same touchie calls it again, that I took him out when I was looking straight at the ball, I didn't look at 'Izzy' once," Hayne said.
Queensland's calls for protection for Folau, which culminated in Maroons coach Mal Meninga meeting with referees Tony Archer and Shayne Hayne before the game, paid a dividend with that penalty, according to several disgruntled Blues.
"We're going to have to go back to training and - hopefully if I get in the side - work out what to do," said Bailey. "'He's almost like Superman. You can't do anything. You can't let him run past you, you can't block him off so we've got to try and learn to stop him. It's probably just not let them in our half which is easier said than done."
Blues captain Kurt Gidley said Hayne had no option.
"What else has Jarryd got to do there. He can't just let him jump over the top of him to score tries," Gidley said.
NSW second-rower Anthony Laffranchi added: "I definitely thought 'Haynesy' had a crack at the ball. We did a lot of work throughout the week on that. We'll have a look at that, I don't know if we'll change too much.
"He's such a big threat in the air I think we contained him well tonight."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/origin/blues-blow-up-over-refs-blunders/2009/06/03/1243708509342.html?page=2
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