Australians slam ’embarrassing’ referees as 40-point Everton win predicted with NRL man in charge

Australia may have won the opening Test of this autumn’s Ashes: but they are not happy with how Liam Moore officiated their victory at Wembley, it seems.

Moore was the man in the middle at Wembley Stadium on Saturday afternoon as England were hammered by the Kangaroos 26-6 to leave their hopes of a series victory hanging by a thread.

Super League’s leading official didn’t appear to do a lot wrong in truth: but his performance has seemingly been viewed through a different prism Down Under, with some leading commentators and experts fuming at how he performed.

Chief among them were Fox Sports’ Paul Crawley – who called Moore ‘fair dinkum embarrassing’ for his display and his seeming willingness to allow the hosts to slow the ruck down whenever they wanted.

Crawley wrote: “What a shame hometown whistle blower Liam Moore allowed England to get away with blatantly slowing down the ruck for the entire game.

“What Moore let go was fair dinkum embarrassing at times.”

Top NRL official Grant Atkins will take charge at Everton next Saturday – something Crawley believes will allow Australia to get into an even quicker flow and potentially win by ‘at least 40′ points.

He said: “At least Australia’s Grant Atkins will be in charge for the second Test. God help the Poms then.

“I reckon the 20-point difference here is likely to at least double if the Kangaroos are allowed to play the style of footy they are accustomed to back home.”

It wasn’t just Crawley who believed that. Top commentator Andrew Voss also suggested that he felt Atkins’ deployment will only further serve to stack the odds against the hosts.

He said that Moore allowed England to ‘get away with a bit’ at Wembley.

“The interpretation, you’d have to believe — with Atkins in charge, locked and loaded for next week — it will be different,” Voss said.

“And I don’t think it will be to the benefit of England. It may make their assignment harder, they have gotten away with a bit today.

“That’s not Australian bias, this is just calling what we see.”

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