The Wigan Warriors denied a match-winning Penrith Panthers try on the full-time siren to win a record-equalling fifth World Club Challenge title on Sunday morning (AEDT).
Trailing 16-12 at DW Stadium in Wigan, a desperate Panthers outfit spread the ball left and crossed the try line through Taylan May, but the Penrith centre was held up by Jai Field and Abbas Miski.
The referee ruled no try and there was insufficient evidence for the official upstairs to overturn the call, leaving Wigan's players and fans going berserk.
READ MORE: Coach's 'weird' return sparks Queensland into life
READ MORE: Dream return for retired star as Matildas win
READ MORE: England left in disbelief over contentious umpire call
In the 53rd minute of the match, the Warriors were awarded a contentious try through Jake Wardle.
The Wigan centre gathered a Jai Field kick deep in Penrith territory and was met by Brian To'o and Dylan Edwards, who many believe prevented Wardle from reaching the try line.
But the referee deemed it a try and it was confirmed through replays upstairs, albeit controversially.
That try gave Wigan a 14-12 lead, before Harry Smith converted to make the scoreline 16-12.
"He's a long way short of the line there," Phil Gould said on Nine's coverage.
"You could build a block of units between the ball and the line. He hasn't got anywhere near the line … He's a fibber."
Former NRL star Bevan French, who now plays for Wigan, said the final moment of the game was "crazy".
"I wasn't expecting it to go down to the last second," French told Sky Sports.
"Relieved after that last tackle.
"We basically just said we'd dig deep for each other [when defending the try line late].
"I'd say 80 per cent of that game we were down in our own half, defending our try line. Didn't get down to their half much. It was digging deep for 80 minutes. Nothing flash, nothing fancy; just tough."
Miski, Kruise Leeming and Wardle were Wigan's try-scorers, while Nathan Cleary and Edwards crossed for Penrith.
Wigan's fifth World Club Challenge win saw the proud English club draw level with the Sydney Roosters for most titles.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.