You my friend, and the Aussie commentators, need to read the actual law relating to a Penalty Try and not what you or they think the law says or even should say...

"the Referee may award a penalty try if, in his opinion, a try would have been scored but for the unfair play of the defending team."

There are a few things in that law that you and they need to read. First thing, in his opinion - so Ian Smith opinion is the only one that counts, and he gave a penalty try!

Second, and the bit seems to be going way over your head and the head of the commentators "a try would have been scored but for the unfair play of the defending team". So, this is what he is judging it on and the reason he gave and indeed the reason it was clearly a penalty try. The act of foul play, did it prevent what would have been highly likely to have been a try. You can never say for certain any try would have been scored, because that is impossible... unless you have a time machine. So all this bull crap about Hall not dropping the ball because of Thurston is actually irrelevant to the decision because, the foul play happened and it influenced the course of play, even if just by a split second. Has, as been pointed out, had Thurston made a legal, instead of an illegal challenge on Hall then would he, in the opinion of the video ref, been highly likely to score. The only fair answer to that question is yes, given his proximity to the line. So the fact Hall dropped the ball, whether because of him dropping it, knees in the tackle etc is IRRELEVANT to the decision given.

You need to understand what the law actual says, before commenting upon it!

Made me chuckle.


Hall receives the ball and gets smashed in the head while flying down the wing.
Hall loses the ball in the act of scoring.
Hall gets a further smack in the head from Lewis's knees.
Within a split second Hall considers the situation, weighs up his options, and makes the conscious decision to appear dazed.

Now I know Hall is a bit of an intellectual compared to most professional rugby players.
Yes, he can do the Rubik cube in less than a minute and is apparently a very accomplished mathematician, but to suggest that anyone could be that quick-witted under the above circumstances is simply laughable.

Thurston made an illegal tackle which could have been a penalty try
Luke Lewis leads with the knees which is also illegal and could have been a penalty try too (in fact NSW got a penalty try for the same thing in this years SOO)

Are the Aussies & Kiwis that stupid they don't realise BOTH attempts were illegal and could have resulted in the outcome Smith got?

i think if it was an australian winger that wasn't able to ground the ball after being on the wrong end of a swinging arm and a knee to the face, the aussies might have had a different opinion on what constitutes a penalty try.

Had Ryan Hall not nearly been decapitated, he'd have had better control of the ball.

If you don't believe this, try holding the ball in one hand and have someone swing an arm at your head and see if your grip gets worse.

when did they change the penalty try from 8 pts to 6 it used to be a try conversion and then a penalty under the sticks still i am

An 8 point try is if the foul is AFTER the try is scored isn't it?

Correct.

If it had happened in any other area of the pitch it wouldn't have been a card. Taking in to account the positioning of the tackle, I would have given a yellow but then again it's different at International level

Sorry mate but you have got that wrong. A penalty try is 6 points as it is awarded because the a player was fouled and in the act of scoring and therefore prevented from scoring. An 8 point try is when the player who has scored the try has been fouled after scoring and so gets a penalty on top of the try and conversion.

An 8 point try was given at a match last season at Leigh because a player attempted to stop an opposition player putting the ball down with his foot , so it was in the act of scoring , not afterwards

The ball had already been grounded in that game before Donlan tried to trip the try scorer so the offence took place after the try had already been scored.

Why would he attempt to trip up a player after they had scored a try ? , he was aiming at the ball , I know this because I was closer than you

an '8pt try' - ie a try, a conversion from where the try was scored and a penalty kick from in front of the posts comes when a penalty is awarded for a foul on the player [iin the act of scoring[/i. These are the rules of the game.

That's what I said

It defies belief that anyone could dispute a penalty try as the correct decision, though it's no concern of mine if someone can't understand the game.

If someone clocked me with a forearm to the face then another player put their knees in, yes I think that might just contribute to me losing control of the ball. It's news to me too that youre allowed to tackle with your knees!

Yes. I know. I'm agreeing with you.

Yes I know you are , it's becoming quite the ' in ' thing to do lately

You can't give a yellow card for a high tackle.

It was Thurston's responsibility to try and affect the tackle safely and within the rules! He didnt, he put another players safety at risk. Head high tackles are banned because it is dangerous, what Thurston did was dangerous and he suffered nothing for it. He should have walked. all players who do that should walk and it would be very quickly gone from the game.

It was as blatant a penalty try as you'll see and Thurston should have been sent off.

I don't think I've seen a player with a more dangerous tackling technique than Thurston, he tackled around the head on three occasions at Wembley and even after getting away with it last night he hit someone else high (Tomkins?). Nasty little scumbag.

Raynor got a red for trying to take Sam Tomkins head off last season in a pretty similar situation iirc and the same should of happened this time. The refereeing in the tournament was truly pathetic all round imo. It was like referees were told not to take their cards with them.

Williams, Luke and Smith should have seen cards this tournament. Morley on Kearns wouldn't have been sent off this year.

LOL @ soap dodgers for trying to blame the ref.... again.

The only blatant send off offence this tournament was Westwood punching a bloke whose back was turned. But that never seems to get a mention for some strange reason. Why? Because he's a pom perhaps.

It probably was a penalty try, but trying to turn it into a send off is a joke and truly shows the desperation with which poms like to try and turn every loss, no matter how massive, into a hard luck story. The better team won and the fact that England had to rely on a video ref penalty try to get their only try of the night proves it.

No it was an 8 point try and a red card. Tomkins still got the ball down somehow, despite being unconscious