I did think it was a bad defensive read for manly,s first try. Admittedly Brooks made the mistake of sliding in when not necessary but instead of pushing in to cover Brooks mistake he raced up then slipped over. Stewart could have driven a double decker bus through the gap this created. Other than that I thought he was ok
Maybe I'm looking at it through different criteria - From what I saw - Brooks was also partly taken out and Stewart received the ball before going behind his own player. The behind camera shot showed this which was straight down the ground. The front on shot was from the sideline and gave a false angle. Hence it was a shepherd and a penalty - NO TRY!
With regards to Lawrence - his biggest problem is being a great club man.
He has been trying to cover for team mates most of the season. It started with Koro - he'd come in and then Rowdy wouldn't know what to do; stay out - rush in etc. Then it was Brooks early on as well - he has got a lot better as the season has progressed and so now has Rowdy. People just see the winger rush in, Rowdy holding back to try and cover the unmarked winger as well as his man. In the end most off the time he misses the tackle and everyone blames him. In actual fact what he should do is stay on his man and bugger the rest.
However a good club man does not do this and so he is the one that gets crucified.
We do not have a better experienced centre to replace him with (not that I would anyway). He would not make a great back rower in my opinion.
So it is as a centre or nothing as far as I'm concerned. I am sure once we have Simona, Teddy and Moses playing 6 next year - I'm sure Chris Lawrence will be back to his very best.