IT’S fair to say that last night’s game between Tonga and Papua New Guinea lived up to the hype.
Full of incredible passion, commitment and skill, the two Polynesian nations went toe to toe for 80 minutes with only the bounce of the ball separating the two sides in the last minute.
However, earlier in the second-half, the Kumuls felt mightily aggrieved when a video referee decision went against them – when it perhaps should have gone for them.
PNG winger Rodrick Tai went hunting for a try in the corner only to be barged by Tongan fullback Tolutau Koula.
Referee Liam Moore sent the decision to video official Ben Thaler as a no try with the latter stating that there was no sufficient evidence to overturn Moore’s original opinion.
However, for BBC pundits John Kear and Robbie Hunter-Paul, they were seriously unhappy with that decision and believed that the Kumuls should have had another four-pointer.
“(Commentator Andrew Voss) ‘Vossy’ was saying the ball isnt a brick, there is a curve on the ball you can see the right edge of the ball,” Hunter-Paul said live in the BBC studio.
“It’s because the on-field referee called it as a no try so Ben Thaler had to find evidence to overturn that. In this studio we all believed it was a try, we disagreed with the referee’s call.
“What a finish this is, I thought he should have come inside but he went outside and for me there is no doubt that is a try,” Kear said live in the studio.
From that, however, PNG did bring themselves back into the game with the scores eventually being locked at 18 apiece until a moment of magic from Siosiua Taukeiaho ended with Keaon Koloamatangi dotting down in the last minute
