NRL officials criticised after Broncos victory

Corey Oates dives in to score a try for the Brisbane Broncos against the South Sydney Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium, Sydney last night. Photo / Getty Images.

Another blockbuster Friday night showdown has been decided by another controversial refereeing decision.

Brisbane ran out 25-24 winners in a thrilling contest, but two incidents highlighted a highly contentious match between the sides.

Tautau Moga was ruled to have scored a try in the 69th minute, which when converted brought the sides level.

Vision of the @brisbanebroncos Try decision in the 68th minute of #NRLSouthsBroncos.#NRL pic.twitter.com/TKpvr2T8bJ

— NRL Bunker (@NRLBunker) April 21, 2017

But Moga should have never had the right to make a play at the ball, after it appeared Anthony Milford had been tackled in goal, before the ball spilt out and was picked up by the tryscorer.

The NRL bunker thought otherwise and gave the try, and the move left league legends Peter Sterling and Andrew Johns in disbelief.

"I think he's tackled," Nine commentator Peter Sterling said. "The only decision to be made is whether he got the ball down or not. He didn't, so what happened after that should be immaterial.

"We should never have gone past this point, the tackle is completed."

League legend Andrew Johns was highly critical of the referring throughout the contest and said officials should look at incidents in regular speed, given the game is played at high speed.

"I hate when decisions are made in super slow motion." Johns said.

"The game is not played in super slow motion. We didn't look at that in real time at all."
"They (Souths) worked that hard and had so many players out, they didn't get many calls go their way - that was rotten that decision."

The second moment of controversy was Anthony Milford's match winning field goal. The Brisbane half looked to have knocked the ball on when attempting the drop goal, but officials did not chose to use the video referee to check.

Fans could not believe the decision making that blighted the tight contest and ultimately cost South Sydney victory.

This is an all-time bunker stitch up. All time. #NRLRabbitohsBroncos

— Matt Bungard (@TheMattBungard) April 21, 2017

The Broncos had led 18-6 at the break before Souths came storming back into the contest with three tries in 11 minutes.

First, Bryson Goodwin batted back for Robert Jennings and the home side evened it up when Angus Crighton ran a smart line off Robbie Farah. And, when Siosifa Talakai crashed over, Michael Maguire's team had a 24-18 advantage.

Earlier, The Broncos took the lead in the first half when Corey Oates crossed for almost identical tries in the space of 13 minutes - on both occasions, he took a cut-out pass from Darius Boyd and flew through the air to touch down in the corner.

The Broncos were awarded another controversial try when Korbin Sims scooped up a Milford grubber to score, despite being in an off-side position. John Sutton was ruled to have played at the ball, putting Sims onside and making it 16-8 to the visitors.

The game was further shrouded in controversy when Milford was taken from the field at halftime for a head injury assessment just seconds after kicking a penalty conversion.

The Broncos earned a penalty when Sam Burgess hit Milford high.

The Broncos' No. 6 was briefly assessed by the trainer and allowed to take the penalty. In the intervening moments, Broncos doctor Peter Hackney reviewed the footage of the incident and decided to bring him off for a head-injury assessment but only after he had taken the shot at goal, angering the Souths' crowd.

After being assessed at halftime, Milford returned to the field for the second half.

Souths prop George Burgess could find himself in strife with the match review panel after appearing to shoulder charge Milford in the second half.