It is like picking players to play for England.

The choice would appear to be wrong but when asked to come up with an alternative it is hard to think of anyone else.

At least he is not video ref

This thread is practically pure comedy.

The only one I don't want to get in Thaler. Games I see him reffing seem to have a slightly bizzarre tinge.

He's the video ref though.

I have to say, I somehow found myself watching Cornish Pirates v Leeds Carnegie (Union) the other day for about 20 minutes and the standard of refereeing was light years ahead of SL. Bearing in mind that this was a championship union game it really does point out that somewhere down the line, our development of referees is going horribly wrong. In the 20 minutes I watched the referee didn't make one single mistake. If that ever happened in a league game I'd do 3 laps of M&S naked.

Now there is an incentive for the refs

is that not because the game is slower with the rucks and mauls

I have got to admit i would never want to ref a game because you will never win. one week slated for giving too many penalties away, one for not giving enough

everyone is blinkered by their own team and most fans wont admit that they do or dont do things. your opinion is nearly always going to be different to mine

at the end of the day though without the refs we dont have the game that we all love

Untrue

So long as we get all the 50/50 calls and all our forward passes are missed I think the ref has done a top job, no matter how many penalties he gives.

It was a pretty fast paced game for union which is why I could stomach 20 minutes of it. It was a very very good performance by the referee, he was brilliant with not only the technical side but the player interaction explaining the decisions and warning them they were about to commit an offence before they did. He kept the game flowing very well.

Players make more mistakes than referees in every match.

well,considering there are potentailly 34 players and one ref that's a distinct possibility !

Then how can refereeing mistakes cause a game to be won and lost more than the players? That happens very infrequently, the only real time I can recall it happening is the Leeds Bradford match at MM.

I see what you are getting at but,

unfortunately refs are human and make mistakes - always have done and always will when all we,the humble fan want is consistency and also some refs aren't up to the job

refs can only give what they see or interpret at any given moment - I tend to think that more games are lost by teams due to bad discipline and sloppy play rather than the opposition playing better rugby - not always the case of course but more than you think maybe ?

BL, stop being sensible in derby week.



Where are you going for a beer. I'm meeting the Saints "outlaws" in the bowling club.

Of course they make mistakes, I never said they didn't. But a lot of criticism of refs happens after the benefit of replays that they don't have (I've also often complained about a decision at the game, only to see the replay and decide that I can see why the ref gave a certain decision).

I'd say playing better rugby also includes being more disciplined and less sloppy too though.

Dunno yet, I'll give you a bell at some point

No No please No we have it bad enough with the drum we don't want a bell as well. Besides Rogues is lethal with a bell.

AM, post of the day.



We've (me and mrs R) have been sat outside with a nice bottle of red discussing the beautiful people of Billinge.
Mini R has given Johnny Lomax a hard time in the Co-Op tonight (JL is a good lad who took the wrong direction

)

Enjoy Saturday, but not to much.

It can't be a beautiful village anymore.
It used to be nice:
My sister and bro in law live there and he supports wigan and tries to pretend that somehow he lives in a part of wigan. He is deluded in more than more way.

How very dare you!

french,I hope ?

Wonder if I was discussed. lol