I would like some help on the interpretation of a number of the decisions made by the referee today.

1) When kicking off I thought the ball had to travel 10 mtrs into the oppositions half, on three occasions this did not happen this afternoon and Toronto were not penalised. Has this rule been changed?

2. Also when kicking off if the ball will not stay on the tee a member of the team had to assist with holding the ball on the tee not the guy who brings the tee onto the field of play.

3. When the opposing team is behind on the scoreboard why did the Referee call time off when they were very slow to take a drop out also why did he call time off when they were taken their time to get behind the try line when they had to take a drop out.

4)I thought a referee could only call time off at a scrum when six players from a team had formed a scrum so why did the referee today call time off when only 4 players formed a scrum?

Just to remind you Old chap You hammered the team with a Super League budget !!

doesnt mean we dont want to know why the ref was absolute crap

to be fair he gave them very few penalties, and tried to let the game flow. I'm not saying he was good, but he was consistent.

The ball has to travel 10mtrs you are correct but it can travel 10 and get blown back, it therefore has travelled 10 mtrs, have to say from what I saw on all 3 occasions the ball crossed the 10 and got blown back.
The ball does not have to be held by a player on the tee, that is a rule in union but not in league.
On the drop out the referee will call time off as soon as his touch judges are in position, it makes no difference who is in the lead or behind on the scoreboard. It is the same on kick off, when the touch judges are in position the ref should call time off.
Time of at the scrum, should be called off when one side has formed the scrum, that is normally 6 Fwds and a scrum half, if a team are a player down due to sin bin then a scrum does not need a loose fwd therefore setting with 5 and scrum half is sufficient, the refereee can call time off if and when he deems any team is deliberately delaying the re start this can include a scrum.

Interested to know why you thought he was crap.
Last week 27 penalties, no comment on the ref.
Thought he got the balance right today, and importantly was consistent.

I thought he had a good game today. London were clean which makes it easier to like the ref

allowed far to much laying on time to toronto which really slowed the game down

Read my other thread, we don’t know how to win the penalty for laying on, if the tackled player is not trying to regain his feet there is no penalty. Plant a foot, try to stand up, we don’t. And if yr turned on yr back, you have lost the tackle, the defence will get longer, he was consistent, time he was giving on the ground was the same for both teams.

lend me your spec savers glasses for the next game

What was the penalty count? And again, look at the tackle technique, the player who wins the ruck gets the advantage.
We have been much better this season than in past seasons.
Will also ask the question, as a fan and a player which game was better to watch and play, this week with I think 9 penalties in total or previous week with nearly 30.
I watch the game from the side as a neutral, Matt was same for both sides that’s all players want.

TBH, I didn't notice the referee that much today.....surely that's a good thing?

It certainly is! I think he got the balance about right between letting the game flow and blowing up for everything and ruining it. The yellow card the news hound reckons was a bit harsh, I only saw it live and heard the post decision chat on why he called it.
Would certainly dispute the “crap” assessment.

Bugger me dog, are we agreeing about summat

it's Sammut and he was on fire



The Yellow was deserved.......holding a player back is a professional foul


.....something Steve Ganson ignored on July 5th 2003....not that I hold a grudge or anything, but it was at about 4.15pm and the held player was Dennis Moran and the offender was Colin Best......but as I say I don't bear grudges........much!

Thought the ref was very lenient with Toronto slowing down the ruck, that was something they did quite a bit of. As for the short kick offs, I can only assume they went 10 metres and got blown back, although I thought the first one looked well short of that. I didn't pick up the professional foul that led to the yellow, but my friend next to me called it, ultimately if you're going to pull back someone in that position then you are risking a card.

agree Kelvin.

Interesting that the referee was an Australian, looks like he has come over to possibly be fast tracked into Super League maybe.

Matt has been in london for a number of years, he has reffed at home, but he has come through the Southern Rugby League Society, so no he has not come over to be fast tracked to SL.
Toronto slowed down the ptb exactly the same as we did.

6-4. IE They were penalised 6 times, us just 4.

My apologies.Just that on Premier sport coverage that i watched this afternoon they said the Australian were talking about him reffing over here so I thought he might have come over from over there.

Nah, he lives and works in london, been over here a few years now, he was the try tag development ref as well as doing RFL stuff

I recognised him and thought we'd had him previously, but thinking again he may have been watching a game last season.

He did ref one of our games last season, can’t remember which, he has been on touch judge duties quite a few times for us as well.

NB when I used to ref in the southern comp we had an Aussie who managed the fixtures and also worked for the RFL. I cant think of his name. Is this someone different? would you know?