Roosters coach Trent Robinson has put the blowtorch on a referee and bunker after a “disappointing” no-try decision that he believes was a “soft call.”
The Roosters lost 22-12 to the Sharks at PointsBet Stadium on Friday night but only trailed by four points with seven minutes left on the clock.
Prop Lindsay Collins charged towards the line and looked to have grounded the ball very close — if not on — the line.
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Referee Grant Atkins sent it up to the bunker as a no-try and the bunker didn’t have sufficient evidence to overturn that call.
Robinson called the decision “disappointing” because he had “two guys saying it was 100 per cent a try” in Collins and Brandon Smith.
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He also believes Atkins may have missed the ball touching the tryline and called the decision to send it up as a no-try a “poor excuse.”
“Lindsay’s try was disappointing. To miss that, he’s 100 per cent sure he scored it, he looked like it was on the line — ‘Smitty’ (Brandon Smith) saw it so to not get that it was really disappointing,” Robinson said.
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“I think they missed it, to be honest. I feel like the way that Lindsay lunged late and then got there, they got surprised by it and so therefore the bunker needed to look at that.
“It was pretty clear from the angles that I saw that the ball was on the line and then they just… I felt that was a poor excuse, the on-field decision.
“There was enough angles there to say it was on the line… That’s the role of that. If they miss it on field, which they did because they were surprised by it, then ‘Smitty’ saw it and Lindsay saw it and went ‘hey, try.’
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“There was no negative reaction from the opposition and they just make a soft call.”
Robinson was quick to add though that his side “should’ve held that next bar” following the decision.
Smith was sent to the sin bin two minutes later for a high shot before the Sharks scored to seal the win. Victor Radley then joined Smith in the bin for the final two minutes of the game for a professional foul.
