SYDNEY (AP) A major officiating blunder marred Cronulla's win in the opening round of the National Rugby League playoffs, with the Sharks progressing to face Manly next week after the Sea Eagles lost to the Sydney Roosters.
The Roosters beat Manly 4-0, with an eighth-minute unconverted try by RogerTuivasa-Sheck being the only score.
South Sydney beat defending champion Melbourne 20-10 to also earn a week off. Souths ran in three tries to Melbourne's two to advance to the preliminary finals in two weeks.
Melbourne will play Newcastle, which beat the Canterbury Bulldogs 22-6 on Sunday, in the other semifinal next weekend.
Cronulla scored a try with six minutes remaining to defeat North Queensland 20-18 in an elimination final in which the referees lost track of the tackle count and allowed the Sharks seven tackles to score their first try.
NRL chief executive Dave Smith personally apologized to the Cowboys after the governing body launched an inquiry into the missed tackle gaffe. The league's head of football, Todd Greenberg, released a statement at the end of the match, saying: "We do not want to see mistakes like this made in any match. We don't want this happening again."
The incident occurred in the eighth minute, with Sharks winger Beau Ryan leveling the game at 6-6 after referees Matt Cecchin and Henry Perenara inexplicably lost track of the tackle count.
Attacking teams are allowed six tackles, and the on-field officials usually yell out: "Fifth tackle" with one tackle to go. If teams choose not to kick after the fifth tackle, they give up possession to the opposing team after the sixth.
"It's embarrassing for the game and I've got that from the top," Cowboys coach Neil Henry said.
"They come in and shake my hand and say we are embarrassed that happened to your team. But it doesn't give us a game next week."
North Queensland veteran Brent Tate said the mistake had a "huge bearing" on the result and may have been a deliberate attempt to keep a team from Queensland state out of the playoffs.
"When you walk off the field and hear what's happened it makes it pretty hard to swallow I can tell you," an emotional Tate said. "That's the basics of the game: keeping the tackle count. I just don't understand how it could happen."
"I don't know, maybe they want a couple of Sydney teams in the grand final? You tell me. I'm not sure."
