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Brian Carney slams Chris Kendall for key decision that favoured Warrington Wolves

Warrington Wolves claimed an impressive 16-8 victory over Catalans Dragons in Perpignan on Saturday evening. It’s a result that cements the Wolves as title challengers this season with the win taking them joint top of the table.

Under Sam Burgess this season, Warrington have been exceptional. Having already secured a place in the Challenge Cup Final, it appears they won’t be far off a spot at Old Trafford for the Super League Grand Final come the end of this campaign.

Their triumph in the South of France was a real statement. Catalans had won every home game prior to the Wire’s most recent visit, with last year’s Grand Finalists proving hard to beat at home – a notorious trait of the Dragons in Super League.

But they were overpowered in hot conditions on their home patch, something that rarely happens. Showing all the traits head coach Burgess possessed in his career, Warrington defended superbly and set the platform to take control of the game in the second half.

Despite this and Catalans been off their game somewhat, it still remained a close contest until the end. Though there was no arguments at the end from Dragons boss Steve McNamara, there was one in-game decision that went against the home side.

Catalans Dragons denied try against Warrington Wolves

Chris Kendall denied Catalans Dragons a try against Warrington Wolves.

Referee Chris Kendall.

With the score at 8-2 in the midway through the second half, Catalans put pressure on the Wolves lines and finally found a way over it through centre Arthur Romano.

The French international stooped down low to crash over from close range, with Warrington defenders putting their bodies on the line to try prevent the four-pointer.

Though a fifty-fifty call, referee Chris Kendall sent the decision up to the video referee with a ‘no try’ on-field decision. After a review, Kendall’s call was backed by the video ref despite some angles showing Romano may have got the ball to the ground.

Speaking after the game on Sky Sports, presenter Brian Carney stated that the positioning of referee Kendall made it impossible for him to send it upstairs as a try. Carney criticised the decision, believing a try should have been awarded.

“The great thing about this moment from a Warrington Wolves perspective is the number of bodies in the frame as they try to keep Romano out. If I’m honest with you I thought Romano had scored,” said Carney.

He continued: “People have an issue now, it’s a debate within the game about the on-field referee giving his decision try or no try.

“I’m not necessarily opposed to that as I believe he’s closer to the action, but what I would say in that instance is that I don’t think the referee put himself in the very best position to see where the ball was before he sent it up.

“Given that he’s closest to the action, that’s what I would hope he would do. Get in and see did Rimano ground the ball and then relay that decision, ‘I’ve got the ball on the ground I’m going to send it up to you’.”

Pundit Kyle Amor then responded to Carney: “I initially did [think he got the ball down] to be honest but you know as it gets sent up as ‘no try’, then all the evidence that came from the video referee made it very difficult to overturn that.

“Like we all do, referees do make mistakes and perhaps that system is in place for if they’re not quite in the right place at the right moment in time to send that up.

“It gets chalked off and all we can do here as pundits is just reference the incredible defence that made sure that it wasn’t a try.”

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