Indeed. You could clearly see him lining up a perfect punch to the chin as he hurtled in at full pelt from the wing to try and prevent a try. What a great shot to hit him just where he wanted.


It was an accident. Tomkins landed badly. On report at most.

But still it was Golden Boy wasn't it. So red it had to be.

Can't better that. Pretty well what I would have said.

Briggs had a very good game - and got us out of jail several times. Royston - excellent acquisition. Says something when two of probably the best three players in a Bulls shirt are from the Championship? Langley led by example - shows how much we missed him. Platty for England! I do not think Raynor's action was at all deliberate, but it probably went some way beyond careless and probably counted as reckless. Even so, it would be nice to think the same rules applied all the time everywhere else. Unfortunately it always seems to be us, doesn't it?

Can only be very proud of the lads today. Best effort we've seen at Odsal for ages now. Guts and determination. Please, please now let the lads see this as a big confidence booster? They CAN do it. They CAN defend - defended like their lives depended on it today. When they had possession and some space they looked very dangerous. If not for that bit of madness start of second half, we could have taken it. No reason now for them not to build on that confidence. And with players to come back, the playoffs are far from out of reach.

Agree with all of that. Am I also allowed to suggest Jeffries might actually have given us a little bit of direction that's been missing?

Proud, very, very proud! I aren't going to pass too much judgement on the sending off except, asking the VR to watch it in slow motion doesn't do the decision any justice IMO. It should have just been played in full speed. Considering the referee, I could see why it was a red card, but Raynor was trying to make a save and got it wrong. Punishable by a red card? Debatable. I asked Potter when he was walking down at half-time what he thought about the red card, and he shook his head and laughed!

As for the game, Briggs and Jeffries have to be kept together for the forseeable future. They don't deserve to be dropped, and there is a flickering of a partnership starting to develop, so stick with them. Langley makes Bradford performances tenfold better, and Elima added a bit of steel to the edge defence, so plenty of positives. Disheartened to be out of the cup, the odd decision t'other way or the odd bit of luck and we'd have pulled off a shock and a half! Playing with 12 men for 50 mintues wasn't evident at times.

COYB!

I am rightly now looking forward to all accidental high shots getting penalised with a red card. After all consistency is what its all about.

Surely we can't screw up next week against salford after today.

Great performance, same result. Repeat that performance and you will win a lot more than you lose.

Raynor cost us any chance of a win. I respect plenty will disagree but it was over as soon as he sent his marching orders. At moment I am too disappointed with result to really appreciate the effort.

Doesn't matter if it was an accident (I don't think there was intention either but only Raynor knows) - reckless, dangerous, a lot of other things and Tomkins is lucky he didn't end up with a serious injury.

Are you for real?

So you agree that all accidental high shots should be red cards then?

You are. Since that is exactly what I said to those around me at the match.

FA, surprised you praise us for cutting the unforced errors. Personally thought the game was lost in the second and third quarters where we repeatedly turned over possession.

He did indeed land badly. Having being knocked out the bloke slid unconscious on his face!!! Sliding on his face didn't cause him to lose consciousness, a swinging arm did.

Yeah we can all agree that Raynor had no intention of hurting Tomkins but for me there was the technology on site to make the correct call of a straight red. On-report would have been a nonsense. Swinging your arm into the chops of someone by accident doesn't negate a sending off, all it does is offer plausible mitigation when the RFL summon Gareth to explain.

The phrase "reckless" which I believe forms part of certain RFL charges, surely encompases plenty of incidents where a player didn't set out to hurt someone but pepetrated a punishable act nontheless.

It was a swinging arm with a closed fist to the jaw of a player scoring a try. A LOT different to someone copping one on the nose driving it in. Ganson made the correct call - deal with it. Most of your fellow fans are.

So in game at Halifax why didnt the chap who forearmed Andy Lynch in the chops quite obviously with intent did not even get 10 mins in the bin. Inconsistant! In my opinion the fact that he was knocked out should have had no bearing on the punishment. Surly with intent should be punished more harshly than accidental.

Briggs and Jeffries might well have earned their place in the starting line up today. It begs the question of how to use Herbert when he's fit.

Why are you emphasising this closed fist bull$hit so much?! You mustn't have played the game that much, how many people make tackles with their palms open?

I thought Ah Van had his best game for the club. He but in some really good hits and worked his socks off all day. There were plenty of 'best so far' efforts though, we need to see a bit more of now until the end of the year. I know it won't happen and probably couldn't but if we put that much into every game we would easily finish in a play off spot!

You answered it yourself. Inconsistant. Doesn't change the validity of todays call though.

It doesn't, but it's the point people like debaser are trying to make. It's a reckless shot, albeit definitely not deliberate. Resulted in a red card, does that mean every other shot is going to see the same result? I doubt it.

Disappointed with the result, but not with the heart, soul and passion that the lads all showed today.

Yes, the Raynor sending off was a low point, however I can't believe that he was intending to cause any injury. It was simply a mis-timed tackle. Yellow card and on report would have been enough, the red card was over kill. It also shows the inconsistency of the ref when O'Loughlin's grab at the face went by without any more than a penalty.

I hope that we can back today's performance up next week against Salford.

Erm, plenty. Open your eyes when you watch a game next time.

Right, got it now. It's a red if it's on one of your players scoring a try but not it it's on anyone else at any other time. Thanks for clearing it up.

As for dealing with it - I am dealing with it a lot better than the Wigan fans at the end still having ago about the "f***ing cheating scum". You got the red card, what more do you want?

Potter believes it was harsh, and is going to take it up with Rot Hall.

From the Sporting Life report:

[iThe former Great Britain international appeared to be aiming to dislodge the ball from Tomkins' grasp but referee Steve Ganson decided there was intent to harm the player, although he opted not to award an additional penalty.

Potter believes the dismissal was harsh and intends to raise the matter with the Rugby Football League's director of referees Stuart Cummings.

"I'll go through the appropriate channels," he said. "I thought he was trying to stop the try.

"It was without a doubt the turning point, that was plain to see. Twelve v 13 in the second half was tough. It wasn't impossible but it was tougher than it would normally be."[/i

Agreed with everything Aaron says.