Manly Sea Eagles' coach Des Hasler is criticising referee Chris James after Manly's 14-6 NRL win over the Warriors at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland. Sea Eagles fullback Ben Farrar was sent to the sin bin for a professional foul with 10 minutes to go in the first half, but Hasler said James over reacted. "It was an inexperienced call from an inexperienced referee but he'll learn from it." Despite being a man down, Manly led six-nil at halftime. Jerome Ropati leveled the scores for the Warriors before his New Zealand teammate Steve Matai scored a controversial match winner with 13 minutes to play.
Des's right, the ref acted way to quickly. There was no way the warriors were going to go in for a try, we were back in a defensive line very quickly and the play was forty metres out. A penalty was all it called for.
I heard the game on the radio and the commentators continued to say how the Warriors were warned again and again for indiscretions but Farrar was sent the first time. Even though they were parochial Kiwis they did claim that double standards applied. They also went off when Matai's try was given!!!!
