Eden Park's chief executive says he is "disappointed" by the behaviour of some Warriors fans who were filmed throwing items at the match referees following their 10-12 playoff loss to the Newcastle Knights.
The end of the match at Eden Park - which saw nearly 50,000 fans in attendance - was marred by the actions of a few who were seemingly angry at some calls from match officials.
Refs pelted with projectiles after controversial calls in Warriors loss - watch on TVNZ+
Vision from the ground last night showed referee Ashley Klein and his onfield team being booed from the field, and dodging what appeared to be plastic bottles or cans thrown from the stands.
Eden Park chief executive Nick Sautner told Breakfast it was "an isolated incident at the end of the game".
"It's disappointing, I think for everyone, we acknowledge the passion associated with the fixture, but we don't condone that sort of behaviour," he said.
Following the game, head coach Andrew Webster was frustrated with a couple of late contentious calls.
Among them, Te Maire Martin was penalised for a strip as his side hunted a winning try in the dying stages, before Newcastle forward Tyson Frizell appeared to run Leka Halasima off the ball while chasing a kick on the home side's last foray forward.
"It's frustrating. I thought they were trying to find ways to take it off us... Like the rotation of the ball he said they can't find any evidence, but then 'oh whoops, there it is'."
Former Warriors star Shaun Johnson also wasn't happy with some of the calls coming from the bunker.
“It doesn't matter if I'm a Warriors fan or whoever,” Johnson said on Sky Sport.
“The ruling on one of them, the Te Maire Martin one, which really got me, the strip. Now, the terminology that came through the earpiece and hearing Chris Butler overturn this call was that Te Maire Martin re-grips his fingers to strip the ball.
“That is actually taking the absolute piss. That's absurd. That's having zero feel for what it's like to be out there in the moment. You can tell Chris Butler has never been bumped off in his life, I have. I can actually talk to this.
“When you get bumped off you cannot in any world put your mind in a place where you're like 'I need to regrip my fingers to strip the ball'. You don't do that. That was a big moment in the context of the game.”
He backed, however, on-field offical Klein.
“He did everything exactly as he should and to his credit, hearing him through the comms which we are very much privy to, it was a really special and well-reffed game."
Earlier, Sautner told BNZ Business Breakfast it was "obviously a very disappointing result in the end" for the Warriors.
"But the coverage that we've seen, across the globe, with the Warriors fans especially, and the event last night is somehting we should reflect on," he said.
He said major events such as this one deliver "a whole range of benefits including national profile, social connection, obviously the financial rewards, but also Eden Park is the heartbeat of the city."
After the drama-charged win over the Warriors, Newcastle's finals run will extend into another week with Justin Holbrook's set to face Penrith in a preliminary final at Accor Stadium.
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