Six sin-binnings as ref gets tough
Ever seen six sin-binnings in a rugby league match?
Those at League Park in Ngaruawahia on Saturday did, as referee Tony Arnel got just a wee bit carried away in the Waikato club competition match between the Ngaruawahia Panthers and College Old Boys.
In what was a surprisingly decent contest considering Ngaruawahia had won the corresponding fixture in round one 72-6, it was the Panthers prevailing again, but this time just 22-12.
But it was Arnel who ended up taking centre stage. After last week binning two Taniwharau players, this weekend he sat a remarkable six down - four College Old Boys and two Panthers - all for separate incidents, and some for seemingly innocuous things.
The diabolical scenes saw College Old Boys finish with 11 men, as they slipped a place to second-last in the competition, having looked so decent in the early stages of this fixture.
The visitors opened the scoring inside five minutes, with centre Tyrone Hipplite powering over, and it took the Panthers 11 minutes to get ball in hand outside of their own half, as they made error after error.
College Old Boys doubled their lead after quarter of an hour, with hard-running forward Karl Siteine - having put on a huge hit not long earlier - providing a brilliant offload for five-eighth Dwayne Tehura to finish.
With the restart left to bounce, the Panthers got the ball back, then came the first of the binnings, with College Old Boys halfback Tainan Watene done, harshly, for holding down.
Ngaruawahia used their one-man advantage to good effect, stretching the defence one side to the other, with winger Caylan WairepoCampbell strolling into the left corner. And four minutes later they repeated the dose, with loose forward Reyne Graham proving too big close to the line and rolling his way over.
It stayed 10-8 to the home side till halftime, but there was drama to come.
Panthers interchange hooker Corban McLarin was lucky not to be binned for a tip-tackle, but then his second-row team-mate Benjamin Greenwood was banished for a leg pull close to his own line, before College Old Boys centre Jackson BairdGillett was sat down for pushing
Arnel out of the way during a play.
The second half began just like the first, with the Panthers again making an error from their first set, which allowed College Old Boys to cash in, as Hipplite latched onto a grubber to nab his double and get the lead back.
With both sides guilty of making errors in good attacking areas, it was Ngaruawahia who were able to break the rot, with centre Sammy Matangi strong close to the line and spinning away from defenders to put his side back in front in the 52nd minute, while 10 minutes later hooker Matenga Wilson was rewarded for some great sniping out of dummy half, when he snaffled a pass and burrowed over.
With an eight-point buffer, the Panthers began to dominate, but when winger Dennis Chong was sent packing for getting in the way of a quick play-the-ball with just over 10 minutes left College Old Boys had their chance, only for another error to derail them.
Tensions then boiled over when Siteine produced a crunching tiptackle, which didn’t look that bad but had the Panthers complaining. He was marched, then straight after his departure Hipplite was gone for using a shoulder, and that saw the Panthers slot the penalty for a 10-point margin with six minutes left.
They should have extended their lead, after a great 60-metre effort had Matangi on a surging run down the right touch and giving inside for Rex Punga-Sullivan, only for the fullback to knock on in-goal under no pressure whatsoever.
Nevertheless, the result sees the Panthers further cement second spot on the ladder, after the third-placed Hamilton City Tigers had the bye.
Competition leaders Taniwharau maintained their winning streak with a 52-10 thrashing of the Coast Steelers in Taharoa, while Turangawaewae managed their first win of the season with a 30-4 victory over Hukanui at Resthills Park.
The competition takes a break over Queen’s Birthday weekend, resuming on June 10.