NRL concedes Viliame Kikau 'should have been awarded a try' following refereeing 'error'

James Pavey

NRL concedes Viliame Kikau 'should have been awarded a try' following refereeing 'error' image

It was the "error" by match officials that forced NRL head of football Graham Annesley's hand.

During Penrith's last-gasp win over Wests Tigers on Friday night, Viliame Kikau made a rampaging run and somehow got the ball down.

Problem was, the effort went without reward as lead referee Gerard Sutton waved it away as a knock on.

Speaking in his weekly review on Monday, not only did Annesley concede Kikau's effort should have been sent upstairs, it should have been awarded a try.

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"It's an error by the match officials, even if it hasn't received a lot of publicity," Annesley said on Monday.

"The problem with this incident is that it should have been referred to the video referee, and it wasn't.

"The on-field referee made a call of no try. That is a decision that should have gone to the video referee, on our review.

"It should have been awarded a try."

The Nine commentary team agreed unanimously that it was a try when speaking with Kikau after the game, while the player himself also had questions at the time: "I thought I did [score]."

Watch the footage in the player below.


 

On Monday morning, referees boss Bernard Sutton agreed with Annesley that Kikau's effort should have been reviewed and awarded a try.

Sutton will meet with the referees on Monday afternoon to go over the weekend's action, with brother Gerard's decision - while not costing Penrith their eventual win - certain to come under the microscope.

For Annesley, it's a case of getting the little things right so fewer questions can be asked of refereeing decisions going forward.

"No doubt that'll be a topic of discussion [for the referees]," Annesley said.

"[Sutton] will no doubt talk to the officials to how they came to that decision and why they didn't refer it to the video referee.

"Whilst we want referees to make decisions on the field, the video referee is there for a reason.

"We've got to try and get these close decisions right. In this case, they didn't use the option available to them."

James Pavey

James Pavey Photo