Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon admits his side were served a reality check by Penrith in a 26-6 loss but lamented that a few things failed to go his side’s way.
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While he said the better team won in Bathurst, Fitzgibbon pointed to a couple of first half referee decisions that went against his side that shouldn’t of.
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Just two plays before Brian To’o’s 7th minute try, Panthers outside back Tom Jenkins appeared to have knocked the ball on but ref Ashley Klein ruled it went back, much to the surprise of several Cronulla players.
Fitzgibbon also noted that Jesse Ramien was hard done by to be penalised for an early tackle late in the first half when the game was in the balance at 6-0.
In the next set, Jenkins crossed and Penrith jumped out to a 12-0 lead.
“Penrith outplayed us tonight convincingly and it shows on the scoreboard, but I think we rocked up with a bit of hope, hope that things would go our way and hope that things would fall in our lap and hope things would be okay,” Fitzgibbon said.
“Then we got that first knock on from Tom Jenkins which has been a knock on for 117 years and we conceded points off the back of it. Then the call on Jesse Ramien. If that’s a (penalty) I don’t know the rules.
“We were hoping for something to do us a solid there but I thought Penrith were more connected, more clinical and they exposed us.
“I’m not going to sit here and complain about the rules, I just don’t think we played well enough and we got a lesson in where we’re at and we’ll adjust that.
“There’s a long way to go but it hurt, so we’ve got get better.”
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The Sharks were tough in the first half but their attack lacked any potency, a week after looking like world-beaters in a 50-10 win against the Titans.
Fitzgibbon was left disappointed by what he saw but was keen to praise the opposition.
“It was disappointing. We’ll take some lessons out of it. But no, disappointed as I thought we were a better side than that,” the Sharks coach said.
”To be fair, Penrith were fantastic. They were last week and then were again tonight.
“They’ve asserted their level in the premiership and we didn’t. So it’s pretty straightforward in that regard.”
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