Shaun Johnson blasts the referees, video, Australia v Samoa, Stephen Crichton no try, news, reaction

World Cup winning halfback Shaun Johnson has blasted the officiating during Australia’s 44-12 win, believing Samoa weren’t “given a fair shot”.

The scoreboard suggests a one-sided affair and while Johnson said Samoa’s ill-discipline let them down, the Kiwis legend was of the opinion Australia clearly got the rub of the green.

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“I don’t want to take anything away from what the Aussies produced but I can’t help but have this frustration around how the game was officiated,” Johnson said on Channel 7.

“I feel like Adam Gee he got calls wrong and he was confusing in some of his calls and gave Australia the rub of the green tonight. They (Australia) just got every little call and he (Gee) wasn’t supported by Chris Butler in the Bunker.

“I can understand refs are humans and I can understand getting calls wrong at the moment. What I can’t understand is going to someone who has all the technology at their disposal and overturning a call or giving an explanation on a call. That’s just incorrect. That’s what I’m frustrated by.

“I felt like we got that tonight, and I feel like Samoa, that they were hard done by. They did not get a fair shot through some of these calls.

“Very frustrated at the officiating. I will say that, but Samoa needed to be better at how they handled it.”

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Australia were awarded eight penalties to four and had the one extra set restart (4-3).

However, Samoa had two tries disallowed, including a Stephen Crichton four pointer which was taken away at a crucial juncture in the first half.

The Bunker ruled that Francis Manuleleua knocked the ball on into Reece Walsh when the pair contested the ball in the air before it ricocheted into Crichton’s hands.

Johnson and Roosters coach Trent Robinson were left shocked when the try was disallowed.

“The ball goes back into Crichton’s hands, but Walsh’s hand is on the other side of his hand there, and it’s clearly a knock back,” Robinson said.

“For anyone at home saying, oh look, that might be six points, they lost by 40 odd,” Johnson added.

“This is at a crucial time in the game because after this Australia go down the other end and score. It’s a 12 point swing, and this is what momentum is”

The second Samoa no try wouldn’t have affected the result, but the decision still left Johnson seeing red.

Samoa were pinged for obstruction by Adam Gee which the Bunker confirmed, ruling decoy runner Francis Manuleleua contacted Liam Martin, which “disrupted the defensive structure”.

“That’s diabolical. That’s an inside shoulder and if you’re going to say there was enough contact, because it was collision with the jaw of Liam Martin, to lose his feet and hit the ground, well, then he should be coming off for an HIA,” Johnson opined.

“If you’re going to get wobbly legs from collecting a chin on a lead line, then come on, follow through with it, you know.

“But yeah, again, (those are) just calls within the 80 minutes that you hope you don’t see next week.

“You want to see a free flowing game of footy, an entertaining game of footy, something that’s not stop start. You’re hoping it’ll swing back the other way next week.”

Samoa’s coach Ben Gardiner was asked for his thoughts post-game and preferred not to dwell on any hard luck from the officials.

It was clear though what he thought about a couple of suspect decisions.

“There are some things that maybe I didn’t agree with but on the back of some of the penalties that were given, we just didn’t react very well on the back of it,” Gardner said.

“It was a real home ground advantage tonight for Australia. They had the uh the music pumping in the background… they got the home ground calls and they got a really good start and it was too hard for us to chase them from there.”

Gardner was then asked which calls he disagreed with in particular.

“You guys saw the game. You can report on it,” he told reporters.

The players were also frustrated, in particular Samoa enforcer Spencer Leniu, who let his feelings known to Gee in the 39th minute, giving the referee a spray which led to ten minutes in the bin.

As he walked off the field, Leniu made a money hand gesture, with Johnson speculating what he believed the forward meant.

“It’s a difficult spot because these players are giving it their all. They’re putting it all out on the line. This is their one moment to try and achieve something together,” he said.

“I can’t help but think he’s probably alluding to a point of asking how Adam Gee is officiating a game where Australian is involved in against Samoa.

“Now, I don’t know what the alternative to that. I don’t know what the solution to that is, but if he is giving that gesture it has to suggest that he doesn’t feel like this is fair odds for them.”