NZ Warriors coach Nathan Brown is happy to accept a referee gaffe helped his team to a club-record comeback and 34-31 victory over Canberra Raiders on Saturday.
The Auckland NRL side fell 31-10 behind their rivals early in the second half, but took full advantage of the tiring Raiders, who were down to one interchange player, after early injuries to three players.
They were 31-16 down, when half Kodi Nikorima found rampaging foward Ben Murdoch-Masila storming up the centre of the park with a floating pass that seeemed to drift forward, but went uncalled by NZ-born ref Henry Perenara.
Canberra coach Ricky Stuart made a brief appearance at the post-match media conference, but refused to answer questions, fearing he would be fined, if he expressed his feelings about the result.
But Stuart is now under investigation for venting his emotions at Perenara from the sidelines, allegedly dropping the 'F-bomb' at the game official.
And NRL head of football Graham Annesley has added to the furore, admitting the try should never have been awarded.
Brown concedes his side were fortunate to the rub of the green in this case, but insists they have been on the receiving end enough in the past.
"Certainly the try we got with big Benny Murdoch, there's no doubt we got a lucky call," he has told NRL 360. "The week before, we got an unlucky one against the Knights, when we scored a fair try too.
"We understand that sometimes we get some, sometimes we don't, and when we don't get them and they have an influence on the game, we do get a little disappointed."
Brown supports calls for video intervention for forward passes, as long as it doesn't destroy the continuity of the game.
"If the technology's there to do it, that would be good, but we don't want to come up with too many ways to stop the game. We've just quickened the game up again, so if there was a way to do it quickly with a good outcome, I suppose we'd all like that."
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