League: Time on Kiwis side as Lions fall short

TameTupou, Frank Pritchard and David Fa'alogo (L-R) thank the crowd. Sandra Mu / Getty Images

A week after the clock didn't quite run down quick enough in Melbourne it appears time may have been on the New Zealand rugby league's side in Christchurch last night.

Although they stopped short of lodging a formal complaint the Great Britain camp believe the Lions rousing finale was cut at least a minute short due to a timekeeping oversight at Jade Stadium.

The Kiwis hung on to win 18-14 though hearts were racing in a frantic final seven minutes after Great Britain scored two tries through Paul Wellens and Gareth Ellis to claw back a 2-18 deficit.

Fortunately for the home side there was no repeat of last weekend's meltdown at the Telstra Dome where the Kiwis leaked late two tries to allow the Kangaroos to snatch a demoralising 20-15 triumph.

The Lions had just too much ground to make up, though they claimed after the match they had been deprived the opportunity to launch a potentially match winning attack.

The fulltime hooter sounded after Danny McGuire had converted Ellis's score, taking a restart out of the equation and perplexing British officials who claimed there was still 60 seconds of game time remaining.

"The guys pitch side were told we had an extra minute when the conversion was kicked," said Lions team manager Abi Ekoku.

He claimed the stadium's scoreboard clock continued winding down when play had been stopped due to injury on at least three occasions and the issue was raised with ground manager Bryce Wakely during a break in play.

Wakely agreed the stadium management had failed to stop the clock when instructed on several occasions, but said he had added an extra minute of time to the second half to compensate.

"They (Great Britain) came round complaining to me and I did what I could do," Wakely said.

"If they watch the tape back, they will see they got plenty of time."

Ekoku said the confusion was disappointing but it probably did not affect the outcome of the game, a view endorsed by coach Brian Noble.

"Through the game we maybe lost three minutes, we were told we had a minute after the (Ellis) try," he said.

"A minute there can make a big difference but I'd hate to hang our hat on the fact we think we've lost some time.

"We've got to look at our performance, there's a lot of things we can do a whole lot better."

New Zealand 18 (B. Webb, M. Tony, I. Soliola tries, S. Jones 3 gls)
Great Britain 14 (P. Wellens, G. Ellis tries, S. Long 2 gls, McGuire gl).
HT: 6-2.

- NZPA