TWIST OF FATE LETS KNIGHTS IN
IF the referees had kept themselves out of the headlines after the opening NRL game, normality was restored by game two.
A controversial penalty try awarded to Cronulla by video referee Ashley Klein late in the game had many scratching their heads, but it ironically worked in Newcastle’s favour.
Josh Dugan was ruled to have fumbled touching down a Shaun Johnson kick with 7½ minutes to play and the Sharks behind 8-6 on the scoreboard.
Denying that, the bunker still awarded a four-pointer, ruling a penalty try to winger Sione Katoa after Edrick Lee had taken him out of play.
The professional foul would normally put Lee in the sin bin, but the penalty try kept him on the field.
It was then Lee who sealed the Knights’ first win for the season, 14-8, when he took an intercept off a Chad Townsend pass on the Sharks’ return set and ran 85 metres to score under the posts.
David Klemmer was hailed as the master signing for Newcastle and he quickly proved his worth in last night’s victory.
The prop forward ran straight and hard, going right up the middle for his new club and clocking 108 metres by the half-time break; 170m when the first try was scored and 186m by the time the final siren rang.
Ably supported by the rest of his pack, it allowed the Knights to play a lot of football at the Sharks’ end.
The Knights had four of the five top metre-makers at half-time, by full-time they had three, two of them forwards (Lachlan Fitzgibbon 122m).
For all the ball the Knights had in the first half, they should have had more points on the board.
The two teams went into halftime at 0-0, but Newcastle had enjoyed 60 per cent possession, a figure that didn’t really drop below that for the entire first 40.
Consider they had the same figure in territory and completed at a rate of 74 per cent, they should have been in front.
The Knights were tackled 26 times in the Sharks’ 20 and their forwards had made more than 450m, but from four fair chances they came up with nothing. Lachlan Fitzgibbon was cut down just short of the line and later couldn’t clean up a kick with clear space in front of him. Edrick Lee fumbled a pass at his boot laces and Shaun Kenny Dowall lost control in bringing down a high kick.
The Sharks also blew their chances in the first period, though with far less opportunity. Twice a pass wasn’t made to winger Sione Katoa who had a clear run from 30 out.