Yet again, this is another game that we could and should have won!

The first thing that you learn is 'that you play to the whistle', which we didn't and, thanks to the ref (was it or was it not not a 'knock-on'?), Hornets scored their first try!

The ref and touch judge (one of them) were continually 'old manned' by Hornets and they won penalties from which they scored critical tries.

It was more of the 'one man rugby down the middle of the field' - reminders of last season with Barry!

Why don't we get the ball out-wide?

Why are aour restart kicks so easy to anticipate unlike that of Hornets when we missed it completely and they regained posession from the restart? Ever heard of 'backspin' and 40-20's?

Why use Smith as a replacement hooker? I thought that he was a scrum-half!

Although I'm a great fan of JD, we need a fast scrum-half which JD is not! He needs to be on the field, as (apparently) we have no-one else to organise attacks! He can't do everything (but from the terraces he appears to be trying to do just that) and needs to delegate to his vice-captain/forward/back leader - do we have one?

We can't do any worse if we start with Smith and Helliwell at half-back. If they fail to impress then change them as soon as it, if it actually does, become(s) evident.

We don't have a hope in hell of getting any more supporters down with displays that have been witnessed by the 'Cougar faithful' over the last two weekends so why bother giving potential income away? Why not concentrate on actually playing ATTRACTIVE, FAST, OPEN rugby instead of 'down-the-middle' stuff?

About time for a re-shuffle of the squad to allow those players on the fringes to try better than some of the current squad?

Roll on July - with (hopefully) some away wins under our belt before we return to Cougar Park.

It's hard to take when we surrendered a 30-18 lead to go on and lose the game.

It's even harder to take when we lose 31-30 and one of their conversions was a foot wide yet given by the touch judges. I kid you not I was stood bang inline with the kick it travelled higher than the posts but was clearly wide. Nigel, our physio looked on in disbelief. It was a disgraceful decision which you could say ultimately cost us the win.

Whoever gave Helliwell man of the match wants drug testing because they were off their head on something. It should have gone to either Shickell or Will Cartledge.

Positives wise we scored some quality tries. notably the one where Hutch was sent away on a long break down the wing and the quick play of the ball resulted in a nice move with a dummy runner freezing the defence to leave a gap to send our man in. I can't remember who through a combination of being at the other end and inebriation.

Annoyingly, why on earth do we not anyone who has the inclination to back up the ball carrier looking for an offload? We could have had a dozen line breaks today if we had.

They are human, they make mistakes, get over it. Also if you think you can do better, im sure the RFL will welcome your application.

I am actually a qualified referee and coach albeit it in another sport.

The reason I don't referee is because quite frankly, I prefer to stand on the terraces with my mates drink some beer and sing some songs. After having to stop playing through injury that's how I contribute to the game.

To be honest I think it takes a very special type of uselessness to fail to see that the ball passed a foot wide of the post, especially given that within the context of the game it was the only thing that they should have been focusing on.

I'm sure folk will come back with the old "No Referee No Game" rebuttal to this post. However just because this saying is true does not mean that they are beyond criticism either. They are there to do a job. If a player or coach makes mistakes they are righly criticised likewise if I make a mistake in my job. Why should officials be any different? Why should they be allowed to hide behind the fact that if a player or coach expresses their right to free speech and publicly criticises them the player or coach will be fined by the RFL?

Well said stealth,it was clear for everyone to see in that stand,referees and officials do at times come in for some unfair critiscm,I for one have been guilty of perhaps been a little unfair towards them when heated and frustrated but that yesterday was a disgrace I'm afraid to say.

Being 2nd in table at this stage is not bad, stop moaning.

Whilst I take your point, Stealth is right. The officials will invariably come in for criticism, some warranted some not. Their performance, like you or I is appraised by senior officials/management, however, the one difference is if I make a mistake at work that mistake is put right and customer compenstated where appropriate. In officials case this is different. Teams/Fans have to accept the mistake, there is no compensation to teams for bad calls etc. In yesterday's case those 2 points could have been vital. Yes, the Cougars plotted their own downfall yesterday, but fans will righly feel aggrieved about calls leading to their teams loosing. Some may not want to be officials for a host of reasons but that does not mean they cannot air their feelings about the performance of the officials. We are human and make mistakes, but that does not stop people in my sector complaining and in some cases with good reason. My boss's certainly don't write back saying come and do the job if you can do better, they welcome the feedback in order to improve.

I take your point, but the in the form table at the moment they ceratinly are not second and people righly state their views in this forum. I thought Luke H said some good words after the game. There is obviously confidence in the squad, but there's a dip in form. Let's stick with the boys and hopefully at the end of the season we as fans will posting superlatives.

The one concerning point for me is if you look back, when was the last team we played well? Rochdale away we conceded tries, but got away with it. Doncaster we got out of jail free. Haven last week and then Rochdale yesterday. We could so easily have had 4 wins from these games, but also could the looking at 4 defeats in a row. Warrington was our best game of the season for discpline, completion rates etc.

Keep the faith!

Very, very frustrating game to watch on so many fronts.

We seem to be very "up tight and forced" rather than playing our natural rugby.

If people want to have a good moan they have every right to do so.

All you Victor Meldrews out there, keep it up

I liked your post, but I liked this bit the best....

To be perfectly frank mate I partially agree with you on this post. If a referee makes a serious error he should be able to be taken in front of a decisions committee to view footage and explain anything brought up, then the RFL could judge on the complaint etc.

However, that is about it, you seem to be saying that both Touch Judges gave a conversion even though it was a foot wide, why would they do that? Are they just against Keighley? Are they for Hornets? Are they both just incompetent? My answers would be no, no and no! They gave what they saw.

I too am a qualified rugby league referee having passed the RFL refereeing exam but have long since retired from the activity but every single week I hear people trotting out the same old tosh. "Linesman, why don't you get on the field and tell him they're offside?" Point one they are Touch Judges not linesmen and they are not allowed to go onto the field for that as the referee gives offsides. "OBSTRUCTION!!!" at every instant when the player in possession goes behind another player. Only if that player moves and physically obstructs the player is it obstruction. The player in possession CANNOT be guilty of obstruction, only his team-mates.

Long ago I saw a Colts game at Wilderspool and I thought Hornets were robbed by the ref, I was livid and took the first chance I could to get the video, before the days of DVDs mate. When I got to the play in question, I WAS WRONG!!!!!

Another game where I was a Touch Judge at Leigh, there was a kick to touch and it clearly landed on the line and I flagged ball back. After the game the Leigh director in charge came over and said he personally make sure I never officiated again as that ball had landed "at least a foot inside the line."

I said if the video showed me to be wrong he should call my referees society and I would never work again, his call never came, he was just very upset that his team lost and had to take it out on somebody and chose me.

I think the referees have been very good this season and I have no problems with any of our games, last week we lost at London and a mixture of our poor show and London's great attitude won it, not some refereeing decisions. We lost a close one at 'Haven, basically because we were hammered in the first half and were to far behind to drag it all back, not bad refereeing.

Why don't you try giving Hornets some credit for coming to your gaff and beating you with superior rugby as I have given you credit for the last three games?

Pugwash.

Agreed, well done for coming to our place and turning us over.





We surrendered a 30-18 lead which is unforgivable, we should have put it to bed from there. But Rochdale showed great courage and determination in coming back from that deficit to win the game.

That said it was still nowhere near a good conversion and I wasn't the only one who saw it that way either

Rochdale stuck at it and never gave up.
However I believe a couple of decisions by JD actually cost us the game
at 18-18 should have kicked the penalty (always kick at goal when the scores are close)
secondly JD broke the line on the left in the 2nd half with support outside, didn't pass and got tackled. A try would have put the game to bed.
However we should limit our expectations. we know that we were never going to walk this league. we are doing the best we can on the budget we can afford and all teams go through a rough patch in every season.
we will come out of this even stronger
keep the faith

posted Pugwash.

I've no problem with that but why wasn't a knock-on given when Hornets dropped the ball and play was allowed to continue to enaable Hornets to score their first try? OK, we should have 'played to the whistle' but the knock-on was so obvious everyone stopped in anticipation.

The second problem was when a Hornets player could be seen holding onto a Cougar player's shirt stopping him from gettting off to allow Rochdael to the play-the-ball. Cougars were penalised, despite the protestations of the crowd and no action by the touch judge, when everyone could see the offence; try 2 ensued.

Half Time: Cougars 18 Referee 12 in my opinion.

He lost control in the early stages of the game and players became frustrated, culminating in the brawl.

Nothing said about the Hornets player with his legs around JD's so that he could not play-the-ball and, in frustration JD slapped the Hornets player and was penalised - cue the brawl.

I said exactly the same thing myself, I couldn't believe that he didn't take the two and yes there was a glaring missed chance for want of a pass.

I think all these things add up to the fact that it was a good afternoons rugby, had Hornets lost I would have said hard luck as you obviously have a good side there, I've said it all season long. We have beaten you and 'Haven but have two tough games away at Swinton yet, I'd take 3 points from those games all day long.

Watch those Skolars next week, especially if Thorman is back, they are dangerous!

Pugwash.

Chunter, chunter, chunter