CATALANS DRAGONS coach Steve McNamara blasted the officiating of his side’s Challenge Cup semi-final defeat to Hull KR.
After the 36-12 loss in York, McNamara took aim in particular at receiving only one penalty – given for the Robins kicking a restart out on the full in the first half.
McNamara had made a point in his pre-match BBC interview of calling for the referees to perform as well as the teams in front of a crowd consisting almost entirely of Hull KR supporters.
And in his post-match press conference he said he was “pissed off” about the refereeing.
“Hull KR were the best team and deserved to win,” said the Dragons boss.
“But how on earth can you go 80 minutes and not receive one penalty or one six again? We got one penalty, Hull KR kicked out on the full.
“That’s nearly impossible in a semi-final game at a neutral venue, not to receive one penalty.
“The game is attritional, the momentum can swing really quickly on the back of calls.
“I’ll watch the semi-final tomorrow and see if it’s zero in the penalty count as well. It’s not acceptable.
“We were clearly second best but there were periods within that game where if we’d earned some penalties and some field position things could have swung.
“It will make the headline, but I do have to give a huge amount of respect to Hull KR who played very well. They’re a good team and deserved to win, but this is a separate side to me.
“Have you ever seen a semi-final where a team doesn’t get a penalty? Have you ever seen that anywhere?
“I’m really annoyed with that side of it, and I’m annoyed with our performance.
“We got it back to 12-10 but we spent too much energy. We didn’t work hard enough at certain times ourselves, but as you can tell I’m pissed off not to receive a penalty at all apart from them kicking out on the full.
“I was concerned (about it pre-match) because in Hull KR’s home games this year (they have had) 42 penalties given and 16 conceded, and only three six agains all year.
“This was not supposed to be a home game, although it felt like it and it was always going to feel like it.
“It should not be reffed (like this). It showed during Covid when everyone’s penalty counts were even.
“There are so many things that are tough for us, but not to receive one (penalty), please.”
He added: “There are more than just the penalties involved in this. The penalties are one stat.
“There’s going for a try (James Batchelor’s second) which clearly didn’t look a try. If it goes up a no-try I think it goes back a no-try.
“Ours goes up as a try (by Luke Keary) and thankfully it was proven it was a try.
“There are lots of things in that game. I can’t say enough that they deserved to win, but for the life of me I need to defend our group and our club in terms of that.”
McNamara did stress that he had no issue with semi-finals being played at venues that made it effectively an away game for his team.
“I get why it’s here, we accepted it before the game and there’s no issue with that,” he said.
“We relished the challenge, we didn’t shy from it. We knew it was going to be a cauldron, like Gladiator with everyone baying for our blood.
“We tried to take that on the best we could so I’ve no objections with that.
“A Challenge Cup (semi-final) in France would be good but that’s for another time.”