Quote ="moto748"Listening on Wish, it did strike me that they were complaining about a torrent of penalties in the first half, and then complaining what a shambles the ruck had become in the second half. Perhaps cos the ref had got fed up with blowing his whistle by then? The referee is trying to get a fast, fair contest which will be enjoyable to watch. But if the players don't want to play ball...'"
I watched six games either live or on Sky over Easter and what struck me forcibly was that the play the ball is getting incredibly messy. In fact he ref, should he wish, could probably give a penalty on most PTBs should he stick to the letter of the law. That is one of the reasons I take with a pinch of salt the complaints that so-and-so is a 'penalty machine' as it really is a lottery.
One example from the second half was when Joel was pinged when the Hull KR man pulled Joel's jersey and he couldn't get away. Nothing Joel could do about it and the ref got conned (in this instance). But as I say, it's tough for the refs.
