Rugby league has a funny way of balancing itself out.
The Dragons and Raiders have now been handed wins against each other this season in “almost identical” controversial fashion.
Canberra led 24-22 on Sunday afternoon when St George Illawarra winger Matt Feagai made a 70-metre break with just 10 seconds left in the game.
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Feagai was tackled 15 meters out from the Raiders’ line when Corey Harawira-Naera laid on top of him as time expired.
“They’re told to get up, penalty brewing, but referee (Adam Gee) says that will do us, oh it’s almost identical,” Brenton Speed said on Fox League.
“Round 16 all over again in reverse. The Dragons are thinking ‘where’s our penalty’ that the Raiders did not get in Wollongong but Adam Gee says that is full-time and Canberra’s season is still alive and the Dragons are done.”
Back in July, the Raiders were robbed of an opportunity to kick a penalty goal to send their clash with the Dragons to golden point.
Canberra had the ball in front of the goalposts on the fifth tackle, when Ben Hunt and Jack Bird intentionally slowed the play-the-ball.
The Raiders were awarded a six again before Hunt charged from market to tackle dummy-half Tom Starling — a play which NRL head of football Graham Annesley later admitted should have been awarded a penalty.
Annesley also conceded a penalty could have been awarded for the flop and an off-side call in the lead-up to the fifth tackle.
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The scenes reversed on Sunday afternoon as a stunned Dragons coach Anthony Griffin looked on in disbelief.
“He should have been penalized at the very least for a professional foul,” Braith Anasta said on Fox League.
“There was just one last shove from (Harawira-Naera), because as Feagai was getting tackled the clock was ticking down… but there was a little shove,” Greg Alexander said.
“It’s incredible that we’ve had both teams win games in very similar circumstances.”
But speaking in the post-game press conference, Griffin wasn’t too upset about what he had played out — he even conceded it was “a little bit ironic” given what had happened in Round 16.
Asked if I found the ending frustrating Griffin said: “Nah, it’s probably a little bit ironic compared to the first game.
“We just ran out of time, it was a fantastic linebreak at that time of the game and the captain did everything he could with his kicking game to get us into field position and put Matty away,” he added.
“We just needed one more play the ball but that’s the way the world works.”
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