Very good call.

Similar thing happened in Hull FC's only big moment of the 2013 CC Final. Shaul makes a break, Charnley chases back and dislodges the ball whilst making the tackle - knock on. Hull FC fans didn't moan about it though. Change that ruling and attackers will be dropping the ball left, right and centre to get a penalty.

[urlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/41536394[/url

Pause the video in the above link on around 50 seconds. Do people think this shouldve been a scrum down, head and feed to Castleford? No. It was an absolutely brilliant try saving tackle from Danny McGuire which dislodged the ball from Edens grasp, went forward and was kicked out by a Leeds player. Scrum feed to Leeds.

To me this is no different to Whiteheads effort on Fifita. Brilliant try saving tackle causing Fifita to spill the ball forward. Had there been time left in the game a scrum wouldve rightly been awarded to England.

www.totalrl.com/column-cecchin-a ... iticising/ This is one of best pieces I’ve seen written about it.

www.totalrl.com/column-cecchin-a ... iticising/ This is one of best pieces I’ve seen written about it.

Shaw's spot on in that article.

That Pendlebury tackle is a blast from the past. Don't recall anyone complaining about it at the time. In fact Elia got flak from Murphy for the way he held the ball.

I'm not sure what they could complain about. Was stealing in the tackle still allowed then? It changed to one-on-one ball steal in the mid-90s?

Good point, ball steals allowed in 87 no matter how many in the tackle. That makes me ask, why did they change the rule? The game then wasn't stifled by ball stealing. In effect the one on one rule on it has created a lot of controversy.

There is far more lost ball in the tackle now than when ball stealing was allowed. Nicky Kiss made a career out of it. I would definitely allow one-on-one ball steal.

When Whitehead grabbed Fifita wasn't he the only tackler? So even if it was a ball steel was it not one on one anyway. I can't be bothered to view it again.

He might have been, but if Whitehead did rip it out (which he didn't) it should have been back to one, which I presume is Tonga's gripe.

Yep, both were a clear knock-on, and both good last ditch tackles. Browns attempted tackle on Fifita on the other hand was terrible!

Knock on by Leeds. Walker follows in with the knees. Sending off offence. Cas back in it. RFL's pets.

But it travelled backwards from a Leeds POV



We'd have still beat you with 12 men

I reckon we would see far more boring play if it was allowed. You would need to be heavily focused on securing the ball rather than looking for an offload.

You're completely right. Cas were robbed. So were Tonga. RL is dead to me. There is no justice in the world.

Hopefully Aus can stick it to us Sat and Leeds in Feb. They may struggle, but with an Aussie ref and a little bit of luck. The imbalance were all suffering at the moment will be levelled.

#PrayForRL

Maguire should have gone for blatant handball. We might have done it with 11.

Depends on your definition of boring.

IMO in the last 15 years it has been made far to easy to score tries and make cheap yards. Far to much onus is put on attacking RL and not enough on defensive RL. This is why we don't get the arm wrestles we used to when 1 0r 2 tries usually won a game and thus they had far greater value. Just my opinion.

You think? Back then there were more offloads despite allowing all ball stripping. I probably sound like an old fart but the game was more varied and entertaining then compared with now.

Plus you could leave your front door open when you went on holiday. To Butlins.

True, but being a council estate kid, it was only because no one ever had out worth nicking.

In Donny? Don't be daft!

Not everything new is better - not everything old is better. I'n this case he's right.

The game was more varied in the past with far less blow out scoreline than today. In the past a lesser team could engage a better team in an arm wrestle. This meant that the better team had to work even harder to create tries.

Far to many tries come from penalties often in a row that piggy back teams often undeservedly up field. They are also gained by some not so subtle milking!

On it's own this doesn't benefit Australia any more than anyone else except in one crucial respect. RL is all about how many chances you get, Australia's ability to turn chances into tries is far superior to anybody else. When a team is as dominant as the Aussies then enabling them even further doesn't help.

I know the counter argument - we need to get as good as them. Well that's some way off or worse - so in the meantime the only way to level the field is to give the defending team the benefit of the doubt imo - i.e. penalties for holding down, not standing square etc need to be either blatant or persistent.

In essence the defending or lesser team need some ability to slow a game down even if sometimes it's bordering on the edge. The best team will always win IMO but maybe not quite as easily and as early as now. Just an opinion.

For once I agree with Vastman. No wonder the standard of backs in this country get worse every year, its because you dont have to have any skill to score a try, just run at a gap and hope for the best. Thats why you find union backs in this country are head and shoulders above league backs. Its harder to score a try so you need to actually develop skills to unlock a defense.

Regards

King James

Amazingly that's exactly what I meant - so by my own logic I must therefore be wrong