Is he now a fully professional referee? Did he go through an interview for this post? An aptitude test perhaps?

Some of his decisions tonight were so wrong you could do nothing but laugh. Almost every scrum was started with either Gareth Hock or James Graham starting a sentance with, "How the f@/% is that.." to which Thaler responded with his reasoning and all players within earshot immediately had the same stunned expression



His decision to refer the Gidley try suggested to me that his bottle had gone. He saw that full on, the other officials had no issues and Gidley never let go of the ball at all, yet he refers it just in case he missed something. Then Graham busts a tackle and shimmies away on his knees to the tune of "Play on, play on, play on" from Thaler. When he regains his feet, now not even touching a Wiganer and starts running Thaler changes his mind, "4th play it!". I though Graham was going to eat him.

Then Sam Tomkins knocks in full view of 3 on field officials and the 'voice in the ear' and he decides he's seen a stray go-go-gadget arm from a Saints player that came out of the line, round Sam Tomkins back and naughtily pushed the ball onto the floor. To round it off nicely Bailey hits Clough (?) so high his arm impacted on the forehead then gave him a skinhead and his decision is play on.

If his decisions weren't bad enough his communication with the players was appalling. Every single player left him questioning his sanity or questioning a case of mistaken identity.

was the expression of choice tonight.

And the Ainscough video referee decision? Go on then, amuse me.

Does the grass count as part of the pitch? If so, it was the most blatant no try ever. White grass all over his knee, the underside of which would have been firmly down. Serious question, is the grass part of the pitch?

i thought he did ok tonight but lost it a bit in the last 10 minutes

Go on GET OUT THERE!!

Its SO obvious you are far better than anyone else so get off your butt and do it!!!

Anything in tonight's game that a Wiganer might be perplexed about?

how ainscough 2nd try was given is beyond me, i've been diving to the floor in my living room for the past 20 mins and i'm struggling to stop my knees hitting the floor on impact.

thought Leon Pryce got his hand to the ball before Sam Tomkins, hence no knock on and back to one.

im actually peeing myself laughing imagining you doing that !!

Ainscough's 2nd was definitely a try, you could see the shadows beneath his knee clearly as it went above the line.

Was confused about how he didn't deem Tomkins to have knocked on, we were very lucky then, but Fielden restored normality by dropping the ball again.

That is why your aren't a super league winger.



It was a perfectly legit try.

How on earth Ainscough's second try wasn't pulled up for a forward pass I don't know.

I love it

It is physically impossible to dive full length and keep your knee off the floor. If he could do that, he would be flying. I am going to check Sly+ to see if the winger was in fact the debutant C Kent.

Perhaps it was the momentum rule expressed in a diagonal because of extrapolated algebraic equations colliding with the moon and a stray Asda bag with a touch of the chaos theory?

You obviously need your HD sky package and nice big TV because it was quite clear the daylight and separation of the shadow underneath his knee

the way stevo and eddie go on he can probably walk on f**king water, never a try, clearly hit the deck on the white wash and then bounced from a forwards pass that was a least 5 yards forward ( any about momentum rule can shove it).

Check the papers tomorrow.
It will clearly state Ainscough scored 2

suppose so, still says in record books that they got beat as well so justice served i guess.

...for the losing side.

Blatant swinging arm on Leuluai in 1st half but apart from that I thought he was decent.

haha I'm not a Wigan fan, no point baiting me


But seriously watch it again. If anyone says it wasnt a try they're blind, or probably havent seen it again on TV, simple as. You can clearly see the light and separation of shadow as soon as he's near the touchline from every angle

It was a forward pass

The pass was forward but that apart it was a fair try.

If you seriously watch it again, the ball is passed 1 metre behind the 10 metre line and ends up 1 metre in front of the 10 metre......and no I,m not blind.