Wayne Bennett has seen everything in rugby league, but the veteran coach said the entire South Sydney dressing room was ‘dumbfounded’ by a costly penalty against them in Friday’s 25-12 loss to Penrith.
With the scores locked at 12-all in the 62nd minute of the blockbuster clash, Cameron Murray effected a one-on-one strip on Stephen Crichton.
Veteran prop Mark Nicholls fell on the ball but as he played the ball referee Grant Atkins blew time-off after a call from the Bunker.
Nicholls was penalised for being downtown when Adam Reynolds kicked the ball from just inside his own 40m line.
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Instead of a chance to attack 30m out from the Panthers’ tryline, the Bunnies watched Nathan Cleary slot a 38m penalty goal to give his side a lead they did not surrender.
“We’re all a bit dumbfounded by that one,” Bennett quipped.
Reminded that the decision was correct by the letter of the law, the master coach replied: “I think it might be but as Mark said he’s done it all his career and so many others have, so I just don’t know where it came from.
“No one’s got any idea in that changeroom, no one can believe it, and so many of them are all guilty of it.
“… It was a big moment in the game, there’s no doubt about that.”
It was one of several calls against the Rabbitohs, who finished on the wrong end of an 11-2 penalty count.
“Well, we’re the No.1 ranked team for the least penalties conceded so it’s not something we do, but we did tonight,” he said.
“… It’s something we have fixed, we had it under control, it’s not really a big part of our game, we just had a bad night with it for whatever reason.
“We did it and we have to live with that. It’s not something we really have to pay a lot of attention to because we’ve been good at it all season.”
South Sydney led 10-0 midway through the first half but conceded 25 unanswered points, including 10 before half-time, to end their 10-game winning streak.
The loss was the Rabbitohs’ first since their 56-12 hammering at the hands of the Panthers in Dubbo in Round 11.
“Well, we’ve just got to go back and look at a few things, there were lots of good things we did there tonight,” Bennett said.
“It was a lot better than Dubbo, OK, so we’ve come that far, we’ve just got a few more things we need to fix up a little bit.
“… Just a lack of discipline there, we gave away penalties and just put ourselves under pressure.
“We all know what wins for us and what loses for us and that’s the type of stuff that creates pressure and creates it on you.”
