Dyldam Parramatta Eels Head Coach Brad Arthur says fans at 1300SMILES Stadium have been “robbed” a quality finish to a game of rugby league, after the Cowboys overran the Eels during Corey Norman’s sin-bin in the last 15 minutes.
With the Eels ahead 16-14, the Cowboys scored 18 points to finish 32-16 victors.
“It’s disappointing that with 15 minutes to go, we couldn’t see two really good teams fight it out and see who could get on top at the end,” Arthur said.
“I think everyone’s been robbed of a good game of football.”
See the key moments from the game here.
The Eels clawed their way back from 12-0 down to nudge in front 16-14, but made too many errors in the second half.
“We made eight errors, and all of them our of out red zone so that was disappointing,” Arthur said.
“In the first half we only made a couple of errors and completed about 80 percent, in the second half we completed 50 percent and you just can’t do it against any team, let alone a very good side like the Cowboys.”
“So we did make it hard on ourselves, but to the boys’ credit we hung in there and scored some tries and fought back, and I’m sure everyone would have like to see it go down to the death with 13 on 13 to see if they were going to overrun us or if we could stay in front.”
Arthur says he will be in contact with NRL referees boss Tony Archer to get some clarity about the sin-binning.
“I just need to ask him what the ruling is and if it’s going to happen continually,” he said.
“I’ll have to have another look at it, I haven’t seen many of them go to the bin this year, that’s all.”
