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Rugby League

Bulls' referee complaints turned down

08/05/2007

Bradford Bulls' attempt to overturn their shock 42-38 defeat to local rivals Leeds Rhinos due to referee Steve Ganson's mistake in awarding a last-minute winning try has failed.

The official admitted he had made an error in allowing Jordan Tansey's touchdown to stand after slow-motion replays revealed the scrum-half to be offside from Kevin Sinfield's penalty attempt which subsequently struck the post and ran into his grateful hands.

Ganson awarded the try without taking advice from video referee Ashley Klein who had a far clearer view of Tansey's starting position and his questionable grounding of the ball.

But the Rugby Football League insisted that the competition's rules do not allow for match outcomes to be altered because of refereeing errors.

"Our operational rules state a club is not entitled to object to a result on the grounds of a match official's decision," said an RFL spokesman.

However Bulls' coach Steve McNamara will escape punishment for his scathing post-match criticism in which he claimed Ganson "invented the penalty" and claimed his team had been "cheated".

"Due to the unique set of circumstances we are not planning to take any action regarding Steve McNamara's after-match comments," the RFL spokesperson added.

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