The Manly Sea Eagles smashed the Wests Tigers 40-8 on Friday night. Despite the one sided thrashing the big talking point was a mistake by referee Shayne Hayne in the opening minutes of the match.
The Wests Tigers looked to have scored at try, or at least gone very, very close. Shayne Hayne chose to make a call on the run and refused repeated pleas from Wests Tigers players to send the decision up to the video referee.
As the ensuing scrum packed, replays clearly showed that the Wests Tigers looked like they had scored a try. Still, the video referee did not change the call and time Hayne to refer the decision back up to the video referee.
Want to see how it all played out? Check out the video:
Here is the problem I have. Shayne Hayne made the wrong call and then stubbornly refused to send the decision to the video referee. The touch judge that was in a perfect position did not step in and tell Hayne that he thought he needed to refer the decision upstairs either.
Worst of all the video referee, after seeing multiple replays that shows it was most likely a straight forward try, didn’t tip Hayne to stop the scrum packing and refer the try back up to the video referee.
This was basically just a complete breakdown of the decision making process by the match officials. That is not good enough for people that make a very nice amount of money to get these decisions right.
I’ll cop a bad decision on the run. I can not cop a referee refusing to send a decision to the video referee because he is so certain he is right…when in fact he is wrong!
Shayne Hayne and the touch judge that didn’t step in should be stood down over this stuff up.
