Jack Cole and Liam Henry fell agonisingly short of history as Penrith Panthers were denied a maiden World Club Challenge title in the dying seconds.
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The NRL premiers went down 16-12 in a thrilling match against Wigan Warriors at the DW Stadium on Sunday morning (February 25).
Panthers centre Taylan May managed to sneak over in the corner as the siren sounded but was unable to ground the ball thanks to the presence of two Wigan defenders.
Following a lengthy visit to the video referee, the on-field decision of "no try" was upheld and the home side erupted into celebration.
Fine margins
Refereeing decisions generated plenty of discussion on social media and in the coverage.
Wigan's Jake Wardle scored the decisive try in the 53rd minute even though it appeared he had been held up by some scrambling Penrith defence.
Despite the video replay showing he was short, it was deemed to be "insufficient evidence" to overrule the referee's call of "try".
Penrith were then let off the hook when Bevan French's brilliant individual try following a first tackle kick off the scrum in the 73rd minute was called back after he was shown to be marginally offside.
Duo take big step forward
Cole attracted considerable media interest in the lead-up to the match in which he replaced outgoing five-eighth Jarome Luai.
He was straight into the thick of the action, tackled twice on the fifth tackle in the early stages.
He wasn't the only Panther caught on the last and the defending premiers looked unsurprisingly short of a gallop in what was their first match of 2024.
The CYMS junior played the full 80 minutes while former Blayney Bear Henry saw 27 minutes off the bench in a solid cameo.
