People are just saying what they saw. There is fans from clubs all across super league saying the same thing.

Nobody expected Catalans to win anyway but to have their small chance actually taken away by some of the worst refereeing decisions I have ever seen is just unfair, embarrassing and makes our game look tin pot.

Why would we be bitter as well? I think either team who wins tonight will fancy their chances at OT just like Saints probably do. I cant see either of the 3 teams left being too worried about any of the others.

What garbage.

Said the same thing last night and been saying it all season. Baring a miracle, Saints haven't got a chance against Wigan should Wigan do what is expected against Wire. As a Saints fan I do admire the professionalism of the players in doing their best and reaching the GF despite being coached by somebody who has sucked all the creativity out of the team.

Agreed. I'd love to hear these conspiracy theorists explain the following:

1. Why did the RFL allow Catalans to make the Challenge Cup final a few years back?
2. Why would the head of referees go on sky sports and agree that some of the decisions were wrong? Surely if there was a conspiracy he would draw attention away from it or back the ref up

It's a load of rubbish basically, the ref made a couple of bad calls but the better team won convincingly. See you in the final hopefully

I hope Bentham tonight is far better or he could ruin what has the potential to be a great game.

I expect referees to make mistakes. They are human like the rest of us. Unfortunately their errors will be highlighted more than ever due to the number of cameras and Sky's insistence on creating controversy.

That said I would hope the refereeing errors are roughly even. Last night that was not the case. I don't buy the conspiracy theorists view of the RFL not wanting Catalan in the final (if I did I would walk away from RL and not come back), Sliverwood however did RL, the RFL and himself no favours with that peformance.

The reffing was awful but despite that Les Cats were never going to win that game. It should have been a closer score but the result was correct.

What i noticed was the total lack of intensity throughout the match, was more like a standard league fixture than a semi.

For me whoever wins tonight will be massive favorites for the final as I genuinely think Saints are a very limited side.

I agree with some of the other comments regarding the winners this year whoever they are will be the worst team to raise the trophy in the history of the comp, be it us, Wire or Saints. It's a very worrying decline in standards.

Off course we're limited were playing without Lomax, Walsh & Wilkin & are struggling for recognized pivots. Great achievement to top SL & now get to the GF but we won't win next week unless it's monsoon conditions.

I agree the drop of in intensity is going rock bottom and the major contribution to this is how the game is officiated in televised games. Too many calls going to the video ref which causes delays in restarting the game, add also the fact of slow play the balls, slow scrum formation and delays in kicking the ball out from behind the try line.

The standard of rugby league is very poor, Saints have yet again had a massive injury crisis this season and for the last 8 weeks have finished the regular season and play offs without there 3 most influential players yet have topped the league table and got to a final.

The strongest teams are obviously Wigan and Warrington at the moment, I wonder if the SKY team will show any bias this evening or will they blame the officials for there inadequancies in seeing how the game is played.

One player I feel very sorry for is Morgan Escare. The sky team build him up to be some form of superstar and in truth he is very limited.

A lot of pressure on a young lad who has potential and is blessed with pace, but not much else.

I agree, I would love to know how all this happens, does someone from SKY/RFL get the ref, touchjudges, ingoal touchjudges, 4th official, match commissionaire, video refs in a room and tells them who they want to win this game and they must make sure this happens ?, and this information never leaks out ?, can you imagine someone like Steve Ganson or Ian Smith being involved in this illegal operation and never telling anyone ?, they take this secret to the grave ?, who do people think their dealing with here, the FBI ?CIA ? MI5 ?, they'll be saying next we never went to the moon !!

Who's "They"?


And now you mention it that footage does look a bit dodgy

The Freemasons ?, or is that just a pub ?




The truth is out there.......................................

Well said. Silverwood was poor last night but both sides had bad calls against them. Even if Catalans did get the rough end of the stick then it didn't make or break the outcome of the game.



I'll be 100% honest, I really hope you don't. I can't see us beating you next week and losing in a final against you men is as heart-wrenching as it gets. If Wire win tonight then we have a fighting chance next week. Having said that, I think you will win tonight.

Normally I'd agree but it's a funny season this - I know it will sound like excuse-making / cop-out, but I genuinely think we have surpassed expectations in reaching OT in the circustances and, as a result, I don't think a defeat to anyone in the final will be particualrly gut-wrenching. Certainly nothing like the finals we played in as favourites.

I would also rather lose to Wigan than Wire in the final. Not sure why, probably because it's quite funny seeing Wire fail every year.

Saints were the least bad team on the night.

Cats were unlucky with injuries and the ref on the night, but at least they didnt get mullered like they did against us a couple of years ago.

Some would say unlucky, others would say Saints earned the right to be fresh through their performances over the course of the season, whilst Catalans earned the right to be shattered.

I don’t believe for one minute that there was any kind of orchestrated conspiracy in favour of Saints last night. No one would risk the scandal of getting someone to lick the ear of Silverwood or anyone else to purposely ease the way of Saints to the GF, no matter how much they would have liked to. I do think that as a game the 50-50s were more like 70-30s in favour of Saints, but I do believe that these were just straight forward bad decisions. Having said that, who but a psychiatrist would know whether that knowing that the mass of the game would sooner have Saints in the GF than the Cats wouldn’t subconsciously effect Silverwood’s and his helpers decisions, a psychological affliction I doubt will infect the minds of tonight’s officials. (Fingers crossed)

Don't have a problem with Saints winning, they've done well this year with significant players being out so them winning has no bearing whatsoever on me saying that last night the officiating was just a total embarrassment to everyone and if it carries on in that manner people will be turning away from the great sport of rugby league very quickly indeed. Most fans can take a loss on the chin if they have had a fair crack of the whip from the officials. If the players under perform that's one thing but having decisions go against you because of bad refereeing is something else altogether.
Never was the name of Specsavers on their shirts more ironic

It didn't affect the overall outcome (I don't think), but I had to turn it off at half-time.

The 2 biggest errors in the first half that may have affected the outcome though were glaring.

1. Saints carrying the ball out being missed. OK - MAYBE the Touch-Judge could have missed that, but it was fairly obvious.

2. The Catalans try that should have been referred to the VR and WOULD have been given if it had been.

However, my single biggest problem was with something that Cummings said about the aforementioned try:

"That's where the crowd comes in to play" (possibly not verbatim, but that was the basics).

Basically, he admitted that a strong away following would have seen the Cats try on the replay and caused an uproar, possibly causing the ref to refer it to the VR (which has happened before, this season).

How the hell can an ex senior official admit that the crowd can have such a large bearing on the outcome of the game?

He basically admitted that teams with smaller away followings are more likely to get screwed over, due to the referees being far more affected by the crowd than I had ever thought they would be.

How is this a shock? Have you never been to a game at Headingly? He just said what we all know...

I still disagree that the Bosc event was a try, on any other day it's a knock on and no one blinks an eyelid... The Makinson thing was in touch though.but, equally there were at least 2 forward passes in the build up to that, (iirc) so it's swings and round abouts - not that 2 wrongs make a right, just the ref was pretty awful for both teams...

I was only shocked at the way it was put.

Basically, he stated that if Catalans had brought a bigger crowd, they would probably have had a try referred that otherwise gets chalked off without consideration.

I think we all suspected that the crowd had *some* effect on referees, but for one to come out and put it so bluntly was was pretty shocking.

Is that because of silverwood's performance

It was an admission that crowds influence games. Yes we all knew it, but should be one of those things that's never really admitted.

Didn't have many issues with the reffing last night. It wasn't great but it rarely is and Saints would have won even with a ref dead set against them because Catalans were shattered.

Fair play to Saints. They finished top and whilst I don't think they're a great side they've given themselves a shot at a GF. In a final funny things happen and they have every chance of causing an upset next week regardless of who they play.

The catalans try that should have been refered to the video ref, I have issue with.

Sky used that all night to justify and poor ref calls in catalans favour.

The ref blew up. There is no way it could go to the video ref. I've got it on in front of me now. It hits the Catalan player who tips it on, now every day of the week were there is no video ref and it's called a knock on. You watch it on slow mo and it tips the wrist and is a line ball at best. But basically the catalan player does not gather the ball in. He sticks out a hand and the ball knocks his wrist.

I'm not going to say it was a knock on 100%, but neither can I say it's a 100% knock back. Certainly in the split second the ref looks at it, it's a call he has to make. He blows up and that's it. Then the ball is put down.

The camera from infront looks like it went back, the one from the side looks like it's level to forward.

It was by no means 100% a try, but they get it back from the blatant forward in about 3 minutes.


It was a poor set of officials, but it was all game, high shots and laying on too. I know high shots and lying on are not as eye catching but they still effect the game.