The NRL have admitted bunker official Wyatt Raymond made a mistake in awarding Adam Pompey a try during the New Zealand Warriors win over the North Queensland Cowboys in Christchurch over the weekend.
The try, which came at a time of the game where the Warriors were only leading by ten points, saw the scoreline blowout, with the Warriors eventually recording an 18-point win.
While the incident - or wrong decision - may not have changed the result, it left fans and coaches frustrated, with Taine Tuaupiki appearing to quite obviously knock the ball on in the air, only for bunker official Wyatt Raymond to rule there wasn't sufficient evidence to overrule the on-field decision, awarding the try to Adam Pompey.
The NRL today confirmed via a Sydney Morning Herald report that there was in fact sufficient evidence to overturn the decision, and that the try should not have stood.
“The bunker official [Raymond] did not believe there was sufficient evidence to reverse the on-field decision of a try, however, on review of all available camera angles, the NRL has formed the view that the try should have been overturned," a spokesperson said on the decision.
The decision led Cowboys coach Todd Payten to tee off in the post-game, expressing the sentiment fans are feeling, while also confirming he was going to contact the NRL around the decision.
“Those moments, that's the difference,” he said during his post-match press conference.
“I'm pretty certain Tuaupiki touched that ball. I don't know if it was checked, but … I was pretty certain it was touched. The margin was 10 points there at the time.
“I'll tell you what will really be frustrating, if we get an apology email through the week or a phone call. When the Bunker has so many angles, I understand there's going to be human error but they're big moments.
“Games can turn on those types of decisions and they're getting too many wrong in the game. We will make a phone call. We'll send an email and see how we go.”
The NRL have been in the spotlight for officiating blunders this year, and while they have not publically admitted fault on all that much coming out of the bunker, the feel among fans is that there is simply too many things being missed in a sport with millions of dollars invested into its replay command centre.
On-field officiating has also been under the microscope, with the six-again rule showing some inconsistencies from game to game and week to week throughout the campaign to date.
Numbers produced earlier in the season by Zero Tackle confirmed six-agains were dropping almost by the week, and while that has now stabilised somewhat, the number being awarded is still far less than at the start of the campaign.
