The Dragons may have been robbed of the opportunity to level the scores late in their clash with the Sharks due to a controversial refereeing decision.
Trailing 24-18 with just over eight minutes left at Sharks Stadium, the Dragons appeared to have regained possession thanks to a short kick-off, with a Dragons player batting the ball back to his team.
But referee Grant Atkins ruled that, even though the player was over the 40-metre line when he batted the ball back, the ball didn’t break the plane, meaning, in Atkins’ opinion, it didn’t travel the required 10 metres, over the 40-metre line.
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So the Sharks were then awarded a penalty instead.
The Dragons had already used their challenge and therefore had to just cop Atkins’ decision on the chin.
The commentators didn’t agree with Atkins, and felt that the ball did in fact break the plane.
‘Oh boy, it broke the plane for your life!” Warren Smith said.
“They don’t have their challenge, and it can’t be overturned.
“Oh, it broke the plane!
“That had to have broken the plane.”
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Michael Ennis agreed with Smith.
“Oh no! Well and truly broke the plane,” Ennis said.
“It looked certain to have broken the plane.”
Speaking in the post-game press conference, Dragons coach Shane Flanagan was left fuming with the decision.
“There were some decisions that I was amazed at,” Flanagan said.
“You were watching it (the game) weren’t you?
“There was a kick-off that you should watch again.
“There’s a red line there called the 40-metre line and Moses Suli was on the other side of the 40-metre line.
“You can watch it.”
The Sharks went on to win 30-18 after trailing 18-6 at halftime.
