A controversial performance by match referee, George Greer, dominated the highly charged St Ives Roosters v Hainault Bulldogs RLC Eastern Division game. In a game which saw him brandish 4 yellow cards he allowed a controversial ball stealing incident in the final minute to go against the Roosters. This gave Hainault both ball and field position to win the game with the final score of the game.
A very unhappy Roosters Coach, Ian Hill, commented "He has refereed three out of four league games this season and has progressively got worse. I am very reluctant to criticise referees but he completely lost control of the game and a player could have been seriously hurt".
The game started badly for the Roosters as they struggled to cope with the large physical Hainualt side. They were given an early let off after five minutes when a Hainault player crossed the line to score only to run over the dead ball line. The Roosters hit back and the game turned into a battle with both sides cancelling each other out. The dead lock was broken though with a try by Hainault prop Paul Hyder. The Bulldogs fullback broke the Roosters line with an angled run, he then passed to Hyder who scored near to the posts for a converted try.
Both sides were becoming increasingly frustrated with the referee. This led to the play becoming dangerous at times and things boiled over in the 30th minute. A Hainualt player kicked out at the play the ball which led to Roosters Andrew Dean being kicked in the face. Dean retaliated which led to both players being yellow carded. Five minutes later the same incident occurred again which led Roosters Lee Kupyn and another Bulldogs player being yellow carded.
Hainault then extended their lead as Roosters failed to deal with a drive down the middle which extended the lead to 12 - 0. With Roosters looking like the game was slipping away from them the hit back in dramatic fashion with two tries in five minutes to level the scores.
Roosters form player Charles Paxton scored a fine individual try with a block busting run which was converted by Jimmy Allen. This was followed by another good try from opposite Centre Paul Ashbridge. Roosters moved the ball wide with Allen providing the pass which allowed Ashbridge to score. Allen converted the try to level the scores.
With half time approaching the referee gave Hainault a controversial penalty on the half way line. This gave them field position from which they scored a well worked try to take a half time lead of 18 - 12.
Frustrations took over in the second half as they game became littered with penalties. This led to the game becoming brutal at times and the referee appeared to be bullied into making decisions in Hainault's favour. Despite this the Roosters continued to battle to back into the game. Veteran, Dan McCormack, brought the Roosters back into the game with a fine individual try from the 20 metre line. McCormack threw an outrageous dummy which fooled the whole Hainault defence to cross next to the posts. Allen converted the try to leave the Roosters two points behind.
Roosters started to dominate the game and put constant pressure on the Bulldogs line. Hainault held firm until they gave a penalty away under the posts and Allen levelled the scores at 20 - 20.
With 20 minutes to go both sides battled for the decisive score. More controversial decisions by Greer against the Roosters led them to lose their composure at times. With two minutes remaining it looked like the game was heading for a draw. Roosters were camped on the Hainualt line. With Hainault in possession the referee then awarded consecutive penalties against the Roosters which moved the Bulldogs down towards the Roosters line. Hainualt failed to capitalise and knocked the ball on. From here Roosters player drove the ball away from the line and was tackled by two Hainault players. One of them ripped the ball out which should have been a penalty to the Roosters. Unfortunately for the Roosters the referee gave a knock on. This allowed Hainault to score the decisive try and win the game.
On Saturday 21st June Roosters travel to Greenwich Admirals which is followed by the Cambridgeshire Derby on Saturday 28th June against Cambridge Eagles at St Ives RFC, Somersham Road. Kick off is 2.30pm.