While Wednesday’s Origin has been played and won – by the Blues 26-18 – the most controversial aspect of the match was Greg Inglis’ no try. Here we take a look at a parallel universe where things went a little differently.
Origin Two: Greg Inglis in runaway that leads to match winning try
The Queensland Maroons have snatched victory through a try to Billy Slater after a bit of Greg Inglis brilliance in the closing stages of Wednesday’s game.
With 13 minutes remaining and leading 20-18 NSW five-eighth Mitchell Pearce spilled the ball 20 metres from the Queensland line. The man the Blues least wanted to see pick up the ball immediately did and away he went. Inglis showed great pace to streak away from the Blues defenders, who fell away from the pursuit until only Josh Morris was standing.
Inglis was about to dive over the line when he seemed to have second thoughts and started to jog toward the posts. Morris headed straight at Inglis who attempted to side step Morris and get back into the field of play.
It was now apparent that, remembering the endless string of bogus video referee decisions, Inglis was trying to get into the field of play to be tackled close to the line. Morris in turn was attempting to tackle Inglis in the in goal area and force him to “score” his try so that the video referee could possibly reverse it.
Although Morris had a handful of Inglis’s jumper he couldn’t prevent him getting back over the stripe and falling to the ground near the line.
“I haven’t touched him ref,” called Morris and Inglis was warned that he would be penalised for a voluntary tackle so he sprang to his feet.
By this time both teams had assembled a brains trust of hardened campaigners to work out the possible permutations. If the Blues could somehow drag Inglis into the in goal area and force the ball with him on top of it, bingo, video ref.
If the Maroons could get Inglis held up in goal or tackled in the field of play, bingo, play on. At one stage they tried forming a scrum to push Inglis into the in goal but the Blues made it obvious that they wouldn’t resist and would drag Inglis through and the ball would be dead.
For several minutes the teams milled around insulting one another or pleading with the officials to “do something!” One of the larger NSW forwards suggested that he rush Inglis and try to grab the ball in a one-on-one strip. Wiser heads pointed out that eight minutes before Morris had touched GI’s jumper and thus it would be deemed a two-man strip and result in a penalty.
Eventually it became evident that NSW didn’t have to do anything more than maintain the status quo. As soon as time expired they could tackle Inglis and the game would be over. Now Daly Cherry-Evans showed why he gets the big bucks. Spotting that Inglis was sitting on the ground and that the extremely tall, and therefore prone to falling over, David Klemmer was standing near by DCE after a hasty check of the playbook agreed on a call with Josh McGuire.
The big forward stood nose to nose with Klemmer as DCE crawled behind the Blues interchange forward’s legs. When in position the half back called out, “Thar she blows!” (An odd choice but he’s from a beach-side suburb). A quick push and Klemmer toppled onto the unsuspecting Inglis.
“Ref, ref. A tackle,” the few Queenslanders awake to the plot cried. The referee glanced across and immediately waved his arm to indicate the zero tackle. Unfortunately most of the NSW team were 30 metres away receiving a lengthy rundown on Josh Dugan’s tattoos again.
Billy Slater dashed in to dummy half and slipped over untouched to score a soon-to-be-converted try. The Blues players pleaded for a replay of the incident involving Cherry-Evans, McGuire and Klemmer only to be told that the replay equipment was filled up already with the events from 10 minutes earlier in this the longest tackle in history.
I woke in a lather of sweat to discover this was just a dream, had never happened, could never happen. A player deliberately not scoring, no!
Although someone watching the game with me suggested it as Inglis ran away, “get tackled GI, get tackled.”
steveng
Roar Rookie
This is what happened to GI's NO TRY and it was a correct ruling. Morgan played at the ball and stripped the ball – it went backwards, that is play on. Myles in attempting his tackle wrapped around the torso and hits the ball with his hand, then the ball dropped slightly forward to the ground, accidental contact that is and can be ruled play on. Inglis then comes from an offside position based on how Myles’ made contact with the ball and pick it up, thus constituting accidental offside, that is a no try to me irrespective to what Gus Gould (who btw was going for the Maroons, traitor lol) and all the Maroon fans thought. But the worst (and the dreadful bias to us NSW fans) was Wally Lewis's 'go you good thing' chant that was heard in the background, that was really low by Ch9 for allowing it.
Roger Roger
Guest
It is pretty safe to say the video ref got the call to overturn it for a decider. Obvious try is obvious.
KillaKanga
Roar Rookie
" Touch judges doing their job" what universe are you in....... they cant even see when a player is offside on their own line less than 10 meters away.
KillaKanga
Roar Rookie
Kidding yep , you have a point there. I cant wait till G.I. is in the green and gold so I can cheer him on again. :-)
KillaKanga
Roar Rookie
Bronco Spot on about both but it's not so much the fans but the beat up in the media afterwards.
The Prize_Man
Roar Pro
It sure does, i was screaming for him to get tackled and i'm a qlder.
The Prize_Man
Roar Pro
Yep i agree, The morris try was the only arguable decision. the other two incidents the refs got right without a doubt. I have serious questions over the morris put down though
Sean Bell
Roar Rookie
In all seriousness i think it wont be too long before a player who makes a break like that after a spilled pill will decide not to score a try and take the tackle , especially if they are ahead by more than six points. I know the article was written tongue in cheek but i think it raises a good point.
Gappy
Guest
I think the other way. What if your team lose in the grand final because of a bad call by the ref?? Which would have been over turned had he went "upstairs"??? Nobody wants that to happen
Justthetip
Guest
Exactly sheek, a point of view is literally a view from a point and no one has exactly the same point. Both we're no try but I get this blokes point and it's hilarious.
Ken
Guest
In the ref's terminology does 'knocked forward' mean something different to knock-on? I'm not sure how it could but interested to hear if they define this in a different way. I actually don't have a problem with the Morgan knock-on. In his attempt to rake the ball out he's clearly dragging it towards the opposing try-line (he has to in that body position) - that it bounces off Pearce a moment afterwards just concludes the knock-on.
Bronco Juggernaut
Guest
Funnily enough, after game 1, NSW whinged just as much. Both sets of fans are just as bad as eachother.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
I must admit, as a NSW supporter, I thought the Jennings pass was well forward, but the one they actually called definitely wasn't. There are probably a good 50 over passes in the game more forward than the one they called. But the Jennings pass looked way forward.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Guys like Inglis, Hayne and the like streaking away length of the field are always a sight to behold. I must admit that my initial thought live was that it didn't look quite legit, but even slo-mo it was a very tight call. Of course the "its close enough, just let them play" commentators were surprised at the call, but I suspect it was the right one. One I thought was pretty dodgy was the forward pass call against NSW in the play before. Mostly because not only was the pass they called forward definitely not, but that the pass from Jennings earlier in the same move was blatantly forward and they let that go. So in the end it was the right result, but a right result made from 2 very wrong calls! But that's sport!
Carlos
Guest
He is definitely the fastest New South Welshman I've ever seen ;)
maximillian
Guest
Yep. Could you imagine the vitriol Pearce would've copped if Inglis scored the series winning try on the back of his error! He's been getting it from all directions since his Origin debut & some of it has been way over the top IMO. I'm not a fan of his but I'm glad he's playing some solid footy at this level. Hopefully he can continue in the same form & the fans can give him a break.
sheek
Roar Guru
It clearly looked like a strip to me, followed by a knock-on. But it's like 100 people on four different corners (25 people on each corner) witnessing a car accident. It's likely even the people on the same corner will see things differently, not to mention people on different corners offering different perspectives. Ultimately, we're prejudicial creatures, & our upbringing, beliefs, etc, will subconsciously colour our views. In this case, blue or maroon.....
Shaun
Guest
FYI momentum doesn't count if the player is running sideways to the touchline when he makes the pass... just saying....from a neutral supporter. That being said, still a 50/50 call so QLD can't really complain about the Inglis no try
Barry Lloyd
Roar Rookie
As the author, and a Blues fan, let me say that I am happy that once the ball hit Nate Myles it could not be a try. I was just interested in how stupid rugby league would have looked had GI been able to hear the shouts from a Sydney lounge room and get tackled. However I now find in disconcerting that people like Tony Archer and Bill Harrigan can contend that the strip by Morgan was a knock-on. With the way Pearce was carrying the ball Morgan would have had to push it through Pearce's arm to propel it toward the other end of the field, even if Morgan was playing at the ball. I do notice that Tony Archer refers to the Myles touch as "knocked forward" and not a knock-on. But that's rugby league - a great game burdened by endless petty controversies that result from ill considered rules that may as well be decided by the toss of a coin because the results often appear that random.
Bulldog
Guest
Agreed - no try but what a great sight with GI in full flight. He left Morris in his wake.