The Warriors′ return to Mt Smart Stadium for the first time in five weeks was far from pretty – and Andrew Webster was not happy about it.
Taking on the Sharks for the second time this season, the clash was marred by two shot-clock penalties within barely five minutes.
Referee Gerard Sutton and Warriors prop Jackson Ford arguing. Fox Sports
The first came in the 17th minute of the first half when five-eighth Chanel Harris-Tevita was slow getting a drop-out away.
He immediately protested, claiming the countdown timer on the stadium big screen had not expired when the buzzer went off.
“I hit it with three seconds to go,” he pleaded to referee Gerard Sutton.
“I’m not responsible for that, mate. I’ve got a buzzer,” came the reply from the man in yellow.
As the Sharks elected to take the two points, skipper Wayde Egan entered the conversation to continue to plead his side’s case. Sutton told him he understood his argument, but he didn’t look at the screens and can only go off the official buzzer in his ear.
“Wayde, that’s (broadcast’s) issue, not mine. If the buzzer goes and you haven’t kicked, you haven’t kicked,” Sutton said.
Braydon Trindall easily kicked the two points to give the Sharks the lead.
But just as his playing group reacted on the field, Webster confirmed post-match that he, too, was not impressed with how referee Sutton handled that situation.
“It was a dropout, Chanel says to the referee that there was an advertisement on the screen and he (Sutton) says ‘you’ve got five seconds’,” Webster began.
“He kicks it in two and as he’s kicking it the siren goes off … he gives a penalty, two points straight in front. [The Warriors] question it and [Sutton] says ‘not my fault’. So it gifted them two points because of [their] professionalism around [finding how long there is to go].”
Webster then took a sarcastic jab at Sutton, insisting that Harris-Tavita had been robbed of time to communicate with his team due to Sutton’s slow warning.
“If the referee tells you you’ve got five seconds and you kick it in two. Five minus two is three,” he added.
“They’ve got three seconds left … when the referee tells you that and then he is the one that penalises you, surely common sense is let’s do a re-do there.
“Something’s gone wrong, or you say just play on. Common sense.
“…. That’s just the most unprofessional thing for the game I’ve ever seen.”
Coach Andrew Webster of the Warriors looks on. Hagen Hopkins
Wayde Egan added that he was unsure what exactly was happening on-field.
“I don’t know what happened, it went to a different screen or something. They were watching the clock and it went off and they couldn’t see it,” he said.
“He [Sutton] said five seconds [left on the clock] and then they kick it in two seconds. It was a lot of confusion.”
To add to the frustration, the Warriors were pinged for the same offence barely five minutes later when Marata Niukore was slow feeding a scrum.
Again, it triggered an outcry from the home team and jeers from the crowd.
“How often have you seen that? Missing two shot clocks in a game,” Fox Sports commentator Jake Duke posed.
“No sympathy from Gerard Sutton.”
Cronulla then found the tryline via Jesse Ramien to increase their lead; however, Te Maire Martin replied promptly to narrow the scores to 8-6 leading into the half-time break.
A penalty goal levelled the scores with 15 minutes to go, and after a thrilling back and forth battle, Braydon Trindall nailed a two-point field goal with two minutes left on the clock, giving the Sharks the winning 10-8 lead.
Despite a penalty in the next set gifting the Warriors a chance to send the game into golden point, Adam Pompey could not send the ball between the posts.
Webster, despite frustrated by some calls, did not discredit Cronulla’s skill to ensure that they did not let the Warriors claim victory.
“The Sharks were awesome, both teams were,” he said.