{"id":127438,"date":"2025-11-10T06:31:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T06:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/127438\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T06:31:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T06:31:07","slug":"deine-mariner-confident-he-scored-crucial-no-try-pacific-championships-final-loss-bunker-samoa-vs-new-zealand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/127438\/","title":{"rendered":"Deine Mariner confident he scored crucial no-try Pacific Championships final loss, Bunker, Samoa vs New Zealand"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deine Mariner remains \u201cconfident\u201d he scored what would have been a crucial try on the stroke of half-time but has refused to blame the Bunker for Samoa\u2019s loss to New Zealand as his side turns its attention to next year\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n

Samoa scored the first two tries in Sunday\u2019s Pacific Championships final but was overrun in the second half as the Kiwis stormed home to win 36-14. <\/p>\n

Watch every game of the 2025 Pacific Championships LIVE on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The men in blue went into the sheds ahead 14-6 after a late penalty goal, but it could\u2019ve been 18-6 after Mariner was denied a try in the corner even though replays suggested he fought his way through three defenders to get the ball down.<\/p>\n

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Ashley Klein sent it upstairs as a no try and the Bunker didn\u2019t have the evidence to overturn the live ruling, much to the disappointment of the 28,000 fans in attendance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pretty confident I scored that. I don\u2019t know how your arm can be over the try line but the ball doesn\u2019t touch the ground. I felt it and I tried to celebrate, but I was still held down,\u201d Mariner said after the game. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re in the moment, it\u2019s one of those things where you just have to flush it. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough, but the decision is up to the Bunker and the referees. They\u2019re going to make mistakes sometimes, but at the same time, they make right calls. I knew I scored it, but I just had to get on with it and move on.<\/p>\n

Deine Mariner was controversially denied a try just before half-time. Picture: Cameron Spencer\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen I\u2019m on the wing, I\u2019ll do anything to get over the line. I was trying to use momentum to get there. It was a 50-50 decision the Bunker had to make and it didn\u2019t go our way. It\u2019s all good. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a \u2018what if\u2019 (moment) but we still had a lead going into half-time. We still had 40 minutes to play, so whether I scored or not, we still had a full half to play footy. I don\u2019t think it was a big moment \u2013 it was just a try that wasn\u2019t awarded.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kiwis comeback to win Pacific Champs | 02:51<\/p>\n

While Samoa faded late, the 2022 World Cup finalists loom as a major threat to Australia\u2019s crown at next year\u2019s tournament with stars like Stephen Crichton, Spencer Leniu, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and possibly Tino Fa\u2019asuamaleaui all set to come in. <\/p>\n

Results against top teams like Australia, New Zealand and England haven\u2019t come over the past few years, but coach Ben Gardiner can see that things are heading in the right direction for the game\u2019s showpiece event.<\/p>\n

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Samoa has the talent to match it with anyone at the World Cup. Picture: Cameron Spencer\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d like another crack at everyone. That\u2019s what the World Cup is about \u2013 you get to challenge yourself against the best,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the moment, we\u2019re a little bit away from being the best, but we want to put our best foot forward against the best teams in the world.<\/p>\n

“I badly wanted this” Foz on Pac Champs | 04:57<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that when we put our best team on the paddock and we have everyone available at the right time, we\u2019re going to be able to go out there and challenge those teams and put some pressure to see what they\u2019re made of. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve made no secret of the fact that we\u2019ve been working towards getting to the World Cup to put our best foot forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought this tournament was putting our best forward. The improvement that we showed in comparison to where we were in the Pacific Championships in the first year I coached and then when we went to England last year, I think we\u2019ve taken massive steps forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Deine Mariner remains \u201cconfident\u201d he scored what would have been a crucial try on the stroke of half-time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,2652,53141,88438,88444,75631,1634,2024,88446,8050,88443,88442,2647,9499,31678,111,79740,139,53127,69,2659,88439,88448,88445,83323,69671,88441,213,20184,88440,20173,88447],"class_list":{"0":"post-127438","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","10":"tag-ben-gardiner","11":"tag-crucial-no-try","12":"tag-crucial-try","13":"tag-deadline-passes","14":"tag-england","15":"tag-europe","16":"tag-face-reality","17":"tag-final-game","18":"tag-final-loss","19":"tag-finalists-loom","20":"tag-fox-league","21":"tag-getty-images-inc","22":"tag-kieran-foran","23":"tag-new-zealand","24":"tag-new-zealand-kiwis","25":"tag-newzealand","26":"tag-northern-europe","27":"tag-nz","28":"tag-oceania","29":"tag-pac-champsrugby-league","30":"tag-pacific-champsrugby-league","31":"tag-penalty-goal","32":"tag-player-movement","33":"tag-rugby-league-ashes-live","34":"tag-showpiece-event","35":"tag-sports","36":"tag-stephen-crichton","37":"tag-timebombs-ticking","38":"tag-try-line","39":"tag-video-referee"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}