The problem stemmed from the Australian referee's reluctance to go to the TMO for a referral for reasons best known to him.
All the conjecture about whether Tonga had left their charge too late is just that — immaterial.
If you look at the previous three games of Tonga you'll find they have a pattern to their method of coming through in the last 10 to 15 minutes of games against stiffer oppositions.
Given up for dead, the Tongans made it a habit of fighting back through latent energy and the semifinal last night was no exception.
It was easily the best game of footy played on New Zealand soil this year, including the British and Irish Lions tour series.
However, the RLWC playoffs also have been fraught with the calamities plaguing the Australia-based NRL competition.
Jaw-dropping decisions that even the TMO, with the help of slow-motion replay and technology, had left fans scratching their heads.
Besides I believe the turning points, in every sense of the word, of the game were in the 14th and 15th minutes when Tonga winger Michael Jennings was ruled to have passed the ball while still sliding backwards just short of the try line.
Was the tackle completed?
Yes but a minute later video referee Ben Thaler, of England, reversed Checcin's no-try ruling at the other end when England fullback Gareth Widdop tumbled over for a dubious try.
Tonga winger Daniel Tupo had tackled him but still had a hand on Widdop, even though he had lost control of the ball carrier, who had clearly put his arm on the ground.
In fact, Mafoa'aeata Hingano, in the follow-up tackle, had wrapped up Widdop who still had his right palm on the ground to use as leverage to propel him over for an attempt at planting the ball on the line.
If that's not enough, the video ref did not even acknowledge that Fifita had cradled his hands and arms comfortably enough to nestle an egg-laying bird, never mind Widdop trying to push the ball down.
Please explain Thaler what you saw differently in the repeated "full speed" and slow-mo movements that everyone else missed and why it was not a try?
Equally baffling is Checcin 's decision not to use a referral in the final seconds when he deemed it fit to go up on numerous occasions earlier in the game for other try clarifications.
Checcin, do please explain?
Any impending petitions, logically from Tongans, calling for a review is an exercise in futility because kangaroo courts in sportsdom do not entertain "that sort of carry on".
No doubt, the Poms will argue it's a knock on.
My gripe is why aren't there completely neutral officials.
Chris Butler, of Australia, and Robert Hicks, of England, were touchies which makes it a 50-50 split in Aussie and England match officials.
Just as it did in the first semifinal between Australia and Fiji, the Mt Smart game asks RLWC organisers what their definition of neutrality is.
It's not a question of whether Thaler and Hicks' prejudices would be put to the test because of their nationality but simply a case of transparency to avoid casting aspersions on a global stage where other codes have shown officials have worn eye patches.
The first semifinal, which the Kangaroos deservedly won 54-6 in Brisbane on Friday night, also made one wonder why the Aussie-heavy officials.
Okay the argument is the best quality referees hail from the NRL but surely this smacks of test cricket appointments of yesteryear.
It harks back to the days of rugby union tests in Suva, Fiji, when the All Blacks, Wallabies, NSW, Queensland and Auckland preferred to have some expatriate bank manager with club experience from downtown officiate rather than someone qualified from the school of refereeing.
How about a referee from anywhere but Australia and England in the semifinals, from the pool of 34 RLWC officials?
If that pool doesn't have other nations' presence then it's time RLWC got cracking to address the inequalities.
Also, whoever let a concussed Siliva Havili back on the park also needs a please-explain memo. Havili had no idea where he was after collecting a stiff arm in the tackle.
If the NRL is the yardstick of everything rugby league then it's puzzling that the semifinal didn't adopt two whistle blowers controlling the game and didn't have a bunker despite its flaws.
The RLWC semifinals show even with the advent of smart technology, people only see what they want to.
I guess the final this Saturday at Suncorp Stadium will have a 50-50 Aussie/England split in officials.
Super League official Thaler told an independent Love Rugby League website in January last year that, akin to players, mistakes were crucial to referees' development.
"It's weird, because sometimes you've got to have those big mistakes in your career to learn," he had said.
This is as big as it gets Thaler but do the right thing in fessing up because it will help immensely in exorcising some Tonga demons.
