Ashley Klein’s Origin howler cost Queensland Game I – now The Courier-Mail is asking you to help make sure it costs the referee the next game. Sign our petition.
Send off, sin bin or stitch up? The Courier-Mail certainly knows which one.
Queensland fullback Kalyn Ponga may have been cleared for Origin II following his controversial send-off in the Maroons’ drama-charged 22-20 loss to NSW, but that offers little comfort for those north of the border still seething.
Referee Ashley Klein’s 57th minute decision to give Ponga his marching orders ranks among the boldest – or craziest – in interstate history, unquestionably altering the course of the contest.
The match official in the bunker, Chris Butler, even seemed to suggest the head clash – with a hint of shoulder – was worthy of a penalty and possibly sin bin.
Klein, though, had other ideas.
Kalyn Ponga is sent off by Ashley Klein. Picture: NRL Photos
The Courier-Mail now wants your help to ensure history can’t be repeated, urging you to sign our change.org petition asking Klein – who has been in charge of 13 consecutive Origin matches and 21 overall – be dismissed from duty for the rest of the series.
Share this story with your friends and family to help save the Origin series.
In an online poll more than 70 per cent of readers voted that the Ponga incident was not worthy of a send off.
The Maroons were leading 20-6 at the time before NSW stormed home, capped by a last-minute winner to Blues fullback James Tedesco.
However the send off continues to hog headlines, with players and coaches expressing mixed views over the incident – readers, meanwhile, have their pitchforks at the ready.
