Referees boss Tony Archer has detailed the reasons why a try to Warriors centre Solomone Kata should have been awarded in his side's eventual loss to Wests Tigers in their Round 25 NRL Telstra Premiership clash at Mt Smart Stadium.
Archer said that while there were some elements of an obstruction, he believes there wasn't sufficient evidence to overturn the on-field decision of try.
"You can see at the point at which Lolohea picks the ball up he runs behind a teammate," Archer said on NRL HQ. "There's some contact by Jordan Rankin, the defender at that point. He then passes the ball back across field, and ultimately the ball's grounded on the far touchline by Kata.
"The elements of an obstruction are if you run behind a teammate and disadvantage the defensive line, that's no try.
"The determination from the bunker needs to be made as to whether or not the impact on Rankin is sufficient enough to overturn the live decision of try. Because the point of where the ball is scored over on the far side, the ability of Edwards and the other defenders to defend, I don't think there's sufficient [evidence] to overturn the live decision, so they should have confirmed the try.
"Obviously the determination there is some impact on Rankin, there's no doubt about that, and there are indicators that support an overturn, but the fact that Edwards is able to continue to defend and there are other defenders involved in it, for me it's insufficient to overturn."
