Excellent. Gigot is offside and within the 10 here.....

Can only assume the VR can’t see Gigot for some bizarre reason.
However, Cas deserve nothing from this (so far).
James Clare is simply nowhere near a SL player.

A decisive and important win for Catalans Dragons over formerly 3rd placed now 4th placed Castleford Tigers. Catalans are now placed sixth on the ladder, based upon match score points differential (just three differential points behind Hull FC). While I expect Catalans to be beaten by high flying St Helens in the next round, the following game against Hull in Hull, and the subsequent game against Wigan at Camp Nou in Barcelona, will together give Catalans a shot at 5th place on the ladder if they can win those two games.

Before people try to excuse Castleford's performance and defeat with reference to its missing injured players, I would remind forum members that Catalans were without the services of injured Benjamin Garcia, Benjamin Jullien, Michael McIlorum, Fouad Yaha, Lucas Albert, Jodie Broughton and Matthew Smith. The tough warrior Gregory Bird was forced to play at No 6 even though this is not his best and most suitable position.

The truth can be upsetting, especially for Leigh fans.

Incorrect . The official should penalise the cheating player , in this case Michael Shenton . The RFL need to stamp this out .

Doesn't upset me Cappy, nor do I think it upsets any other Leythers either for that matter.You're just boring now tbh.

Surprised to see Shenton stoop to that - but I don't care who does it - it's cheap and grubby and shouldn't be rewarded with a penalty; quite the opposite in fact - the offending player should be penalised for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The RFL need to get the message on this one - it's an aspect of the game that coaches have exploited, and it should be taken away from them as an option.

Exactly this.

There are occasions when the defending player is deliberately slowing down the ptb and it can be a tough call for the ref but, some of the cheating going on by the attacking side is spoiling the game.
RL is starting to get like football, with players diving around looking for penalties etc and it needs stopping.

Maybe go for a review on such incidents and then warn / ban players.

Too much faffing about in my view - just issue a clarification of the interpretation and then penalise anyone who does it, consistently; and that's the key. At the moment, it seems that only Ben Thaler has the bottle to wave play on, and even then it's not entirely clear what criteria he's using to judge what does or doesn't constitute genuine impediment.

If players were penalised for it, they'd stop doing it - so long as they can get away with it, they will. It's very simple.

Catalan passed / rolled the ball into the defender 4 times in the space of 25 minutes yesterday but naturally it's the cas player getting the attention! Catalan are the worst for it, absolute serial offenders especially at home, a really grubby side and a dour watch. Cas just went with a fight fire with fire approach.

Simply the rule needs changing because as it stands, it is a penalty. But its gonna take the coaches and officials to get together to get some clarity with it or it will just keep happening. Needs to be a blanket approach.

Whilst they're at it they can look at theatrics at the play of the ball, passing the ball into the defender and the defensive line defender encouraging a penalty for obstruction from the dummy runner.

The mess that is the play the ball has become the “be all and end all” in the game and at the moment the coaches are winning the arms race against the referees. The result is that games are being dominated by both teams employing cynical tactics. It makes for a poor viewing experience.

Time for referees to be allowed to use their initiative. The same applies to the obstruction rule interpretation. Allow refs to make a call based on what they see and allow a bit of latitude. Get rid of the laws that are too prescriptive.

For me I’d allow a ball carrier to take a step to the side to play the ball if a player is lying in the ruck. If he doesn’t do that and instead plays the ball on top of a defender to try to win a penalty I’d penalise the ball carrier since he would’ve been able to play the ball in most cases.

As for passing the ball into a defender it’s easy to tell if it’s being done on purpose or not. Penalise those milking the penalty. If a defender is in the way deliberately let the ref make a call.

It’s not rocket science.

It's not rocket science.
However, a bit of subtlety from either the defender not moving quickly enough (on purpose) or, the attacking player "taking advantage" of the offside defender can change everything.
I think that if the defender has made "every effort" to clear the ruck then, it should be play on but, even this is a judgement call.

However, IF and attacking player, has deliberately "passed" the ball into the "off side" defender and we have seen this done with a forward pass on many occasions, the penalty should go to the defending side.

So often now, we actually see the attacking side step over the defending player who is on the ground, just so that he can play the ball into him to gain a penalty and in general play, even when defenders are not interfering, how many times do we currently see the ball played from the wrong place.

Refs should be allowed to use their discretion and make a call based on what they see at the time. If they think a players is milking a penalty it should go the other way. If they think a player is deliberately trying to slow the PTB penalise them.

If it’s 50/50 then call the captains in. Place both teams on a warning. Tell them to stop the messing about or players will end up in the bin from both sides the next time it happens.

This is the problem - most people are using the Shenton incident as an example - and not in any way singling out him or Cas; it just happens to be a conveniently visible lighting rod for a game-wide problem - so citing numerous reasons why Catalans are 'worse' is entirely unhelpful.

It's long overdue time that the RFL took a firm hand with the wild-west that ruck has become - it's ruining the game as a spectacle, and makes a mockery of the often cited myth that RL is based on integrity and fair play; it's just like football now, in all the worst ways, and will get worse if something isn't done.

I don't think shenton would have done that v Wakefield or St Helens. I would have been frustrated had he done it last Thursday but I can grin and bare it against the worst side in the league for it.

That's crazy talk - but if it makes you feel better, you crack on.

Which bit is crazy talk, that I don't think he'd have done it again wakey ?

You mention him not being singled out but the majority of it on Twitter is the footage of him, not the 4 Catalan efforts in 25 minutes yesterday...

Gigot is the biggest manure house in the league for what it's worth.

Here are the tries scored: www.catalansdragons.com/articles ... eford-r12/

Here are the tries scored: www.catalansdragons.com/articles ... eford-r12/

Yep - that bit; and ignoring the fact that the footage is being used to illustrate a wider problem - and isn't about singling out poor old Cas.

Gigot certainly plays on the edge - but is he the worst in SL? Absolutely not - there are plenty of players who push the envelope in all sorts of ways, including, shock horror, at your team.

You need to grow up pal - it might surprise you to learn that it's not all about Cas.

Brendon, I don't think it is all about Cas, but to those that didn't see the game yesterday and purely see 1 clip of shenton passing the ball to the defender, may give the impression that that's how we usually play, we don't. Catalan do, especially at home I watch all their home games and they infuriate me. Maybe that's why I detest gigot more so than more others in the league.
Again, I'm not making out we are angels, as 1 of our key players has missed 3 games and deservedly so.
Either way, the RFL have acted, so we shall see what it brings, I'm optimistic it's the right course of action.

Hope that response is grown up enough for you, "pal".

Utterly embarassing from Shenton.

A number of times in the saints v Wigan there were players lying in the ruck but not once did the upstanding gladiators of Wigan or St Helens try and claim a cheap penalty like that.

We all watch the game and know Cas don't usually play in that way. But it brings home how bad things have got when one of the better attacking sides pulls a stunt like that. Unsurprisingly, folk would prefer they didn't. Still, if it's prodded Ganson into some sort of activity it may be no bad thing.

Which rather proves the point I was trying to make doesn't it - if that clip, and the reactions to it, have forced Mr Ganson to accept that there is a problem with the interpretation of this rule, such that even the morally spotless Castleford Tigers will exploit it, then it's served its purpose.

I don't think Shenton will suffer as a result - he's a fine player and an upstanding young man - and if it improves the game for everyone, I'm sure he won't mind taking one for the team. Maybe they'll change the laws and call it the "Shenton Rule," thus guaranteeing him RL immortality long after he's hung up his boots.

it has a lovely ring to that Sharon's rule