NRL referees boss Tony Archer is adamant Shayne Hayne and Ben Cummins did not lose control of last week's fiery second State of Origin clash and backed the whistleblowers who dismissed Parramatta's Chris Sandow and Gold Coast forward Nate Myles for dissent.
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The game's match officials have been furiously scrutinised during this year's interstate showdown, after Blues coach Laurie Daley was unhappy at several decisions from game one last month before NSW clinched the series in an incident-riddled encounter in Sydney last Wednesday.
There was further drama concerning referees at the weekend when Sandow was sin-binned during the Eels' 46-20 defeat to Melbourne on Sunday for asking Cummins "How much are they paying you?", while Myles was marched for swearing at Gerard Sutton during the Titans' one-point loss to the Dragons.
The punishment of the duo was criticised by the players' respective club coaches, Brad Arthur and John Cartwright, but Archer said on Monday the men in the middle had made the right calls.
"In relation to the authority of the referees and their integrity, that is paramount," Archer said. "I know that the action taken by the referees [on Sunday] was appropriate in the circumstance. The referees had the opportunity to send them to the sin-bin and that was right."
Archer also defended the retention of Hayne and Cummins for Origin II, and argued they had not allowed proceedings to slip beyond their control at ANZ Stadium six days ago. In a fiery contest that featured several spiteful incidents, players could be heard through the referees' audio system pleading for Hayne and Cummins to regain control of the match, while Blues hooker Robbie Farah said afterwards: "I think they probably lost control a bit but I don't really care now we've won the game."
Archer said on Monday: "I didn't think they lost control of the game at any stage. I'm not sure the niggle went for 80 minutes. There was obviously some incidents at the back end of the game where there was some frustration and the referees dealt with that as it occurred.
"There are things in every game, and State of Origin is no different to any other game in relation to the decisions made by referees. I don't think Origin II was any different. As I said, I don't think at any stage they lost control of the game."
On the most-debated decisions from Origin II, Archer said the decision to disallow a second-half try to Queensland's Sam Thaiday had been the correct one but said replays showed a Maroons kick-off had touched NSW prop Aaron Woods as he tried to evade it with six minutes to go.
"I think the video refs got the [Thaiday] decision correct," Archer said. "The reason for that is the ball was dislodged in a tackle made by Hayne. The ball is then considered to be loose – a loose carry – and for Sam for retain possession after the ball has been lost, he's got to catch it, regrip it or hold it before it hits the ground, and he didn't do that. I was comfortable with the decision.
On Woods he said: "I think on the slow-mo replay from one angle it indicates that the ball came in contact with him, which would indicate that it's the wrong decision."
