‘Cannot believe this’: Ref’s startling Bunker overrule in bombshell Ponga send-off
Kalyn Ponga has made the stunning admission he wasn’t even aware he had been sent off for a high shot on NSW speedster Tolu Koula until he was told in the dressing sheds, leading to the most miraculous comeback in State of Origin history.
Queensland ace Ponga was just the seventh man to be sent off in Origin history, felling Koula with a shot which ruled the Blues winger out of the rest of the game.
Ponga and Maroons captain Cameron Munster remonstrated with referee Ashley Klein before he marched the No.1, who didn’t recognise the severity of the sanction until told by a Queensland staffer in the dressing room. On-field audio made clear that Klein overruled the Bunker to decide on a send-off.
“I haven’t looked at it yet and in the moment it’s hard to know what’s happened,” Ponga told reporters, with blood still dripping from near his ear after the collision with Koula.
“I didn’t realise it was a send off when I left (the field). I had no idea what was going on to be honest. I thought it was 10 minutes, and to be honest, I thought they might have assessed me for a head knock.
“At the end of the day, it is what it is. The ref made the call.”
The NRL match review committee slapped Ponga with a grade two shoulder charge penalty. He will be fined $6900, but free to play for the Knights this weekend and for the Maroons for the rest of the series.
A grade two charge would ordinarily have seen Ponga banned for two games in the NRL, but a change to the judicial code in rep games means the superstar fullback only has to pay 23 per cent of his match fee with an early guilty plea.
He will be a key figure when both teams head to the MCG for game two next month.
Ponga’s send off was a huge turning point in the match as the Blues reeled in a 14-point deficit to clinch the matchwinner through James Tedesco inside the final 90 seconds. The 22-20 result – in which NSW trailed by 20 in the first half – was the biggest comeback in Origin history.
Ponga was otherwise outstanding until his mishap, which came after debutant Sam Walker felled Koula in the tackle as Ponga raced across in cover.
Speaking to the media, the 28-year-old expressed concern for Koula and praised his teammates, who gallantly tried to repel a Nathan Cleary-inspired Blues in the series opener at Accor Stadium.
“Sh*t happens,” Ponga said after watching the final minutes from the Queensland coaching box.
“At the end of the day, it was my action that forced the boys to work extra hard, so there is a level of (responsibility) there. I’m not proud the boys had to work extra hard because I was off the field.”
Said Queensland coach Billy Slater of the decision: “We can argue all we want, (but) I haven’t got any problems with it. He feels he’s let his team down. They happen at the back. I played that position, I know how it is.
“Spur of the moment, it was wet out there. Those things happen.”
Koula’s withdrawal forced the Blues to blood debutant Casey McLean, who was a standout in his cameo on the wing despite his Panthers coach Ivan Cleary previously expressing reservations about him playing in the position this series.
Whether Ponga made contact with his shoulder on Koula’s head, or whether it was a straight head clash, was a point of contention with viewers; though Ponga did tuck his arms at any rate, constituting an illegal tackle.
Klein was insistent that Ponga struck Koula in the head with his shoulder, per his conversation with Bunker official Chris Butler, who seemed to be advocating for a sin-bin.
“Mate, that’s a shoulder charge to the head, so that’s a send-off to me,” Klein said, with only his side of the conversation audible on the broadcast as he reiterated his point. “To me that’s a send-off, shoulder charge to the head. Shoulder charge direct to the head, mate, I’m thinking that’s a send-off.
“I get that mate, but this is in the head, there’s no attempt to tackle. I know what you’re saying, but this is an illegal play,”
Klein then said when sending Ponga off: “Shoulder charge, it makes direct contact to the head. You’ve got a duty of care, you’re off.”
Ponga retorted: “My shoulder or my head? I hit my head.” He pointed to his bleeding left ear while making the point.
On Fox League’s call of the game, NSW great Greg Alexander said: “It wasn’t shoulder contact.”
Caller Andrew Voss said: “I cannot believe this. Multiple replays, the referee adamant with what he saw with the naked eye.
“That’s fine … but we are in the video age, and we have the chance to review, and he has been sent off for a shoulder charge to the head.”
Alexander: “I think the Bunker said ‘he hasn’t made contact with his shoulder’ and he’s disagreed with him.”
This sequence of pictures from Getty Images appears to show that the primary contact was a head clash.
Certainly the impact that left Koula with a cut near his right eye was from clashing with Ponga’s head.
Slater said that he was proud of his team, with Ponga’s availability meaning they don’t have to worry about bringing Reece Walsh back in, unless the coach springs a surprise.
“I thought it was a courageous effort from our players,” Slater said.
“I’m heartbroken for them, with the effort that they put in. They played with so much heart in that last 23 minutes, and New South Wales did a great job. They had to chase the points down and they got them right at the death, but I’m super proud of our footy team.
“It was a tough night and a tough feeling, but I thought they played with plenty of spirit.”
Blues coach Laurie Daley didn’t want to comment on the tackle, while skipper Isaah Yeo thought it warranted a send off despite suggestions Bunker official Chris Butler wasn’t convinced.
“Your bias says that I think it’s a send-off,” Yeo said.
“I’ve been on that side of it as well before, it was a couple of years ago here as well.”
The fine means Ponga is free to run out for the Knights on Saturday against the Eels, but the news isn’t so good for Koula who won’t play for Manly against the Sharks on Friday.
“It was pretty crazy,” the NSW speedster said.
“That was probably the first bit of space that I saw that I got to see during the game and then Kalyn came to hit me and then I was out for a bit, but once I got all my senses back together I was fine.
“It all just happened so fast. There wasn’t much pain. It was just probably shock. I was I was out for a little bit, but once I got all my senses back, I was fine.”
