Wigan allowed to do what they like but when other team does the same they are penalised somebody must of had a word with child at half time cos if he'do been the same as first Wigan would of won easy are we in for another season of the top teams allowed to play by their rules and the rest by THE rules hoping not

Agreed, think Widnes got 'bummed' by the ref tonight.
None more so than the retrospective action to bin Smith.
If the touch judge can do that, surely he saw Bateman tackle the Widnes player in the air?
With Smith getting binned, will it mean he can't be referred to disciplinary committee for further punishment?
Will it be Tomkins that gets a ban?
When they both should.

You look forward to the start of the season for ages - then you realise that it's just going to be more of the same; very disheartening.

Every second counts - or the whimsical application of the rules by different referees counts?

Exactly what I thought mate, it absolutely stinks. I can't believe how Cummins continuously sticks up for Childs wrong decisions.

I refrained from coming on last night after watch that farcical display from Child, they talked about a 7 year investment in getting the crowds up, well I think it would of been better spent on the man in the middle

He was awful but then it was no surprise, he always is. But nothing will be done as usual.

Wigan were there own worst enemies and should have put the game to bed in the second half.
Burgess bombed a "sitter" and then gifted Widnes a try later on.
The interference in the tackle by Farrel was an utter joke and yet Widnes got pinged for a lot less.

Having said that, it was a very gutsy display by Widnes.
Down to 12 and coming back to draw, it has ruined everyone's predictions for week 1 and we've only had 1 game.

I noted that the pitch produced quite a number of cuts to player's knees and elbows, so why were they not removed under the blood bin rules. I presume they do not want to highlight a major failing of this type of pitch.

Gutsy display by Widnes, but not very class from either team. It was a robotic match and lacked any real spark, other than the physical. I reckon Wigan have got a gem in Williams, but a play maker he is not - yet - and that stifled their attack as Smith is not good enough to carry them on his own.

Widnes, without Brown, are one-dimensional.

6/10 for me. Expect better tonight from 2 teams with loads of great footballers in them!

Widnes remind me of us, a team of hard workers with a sprinkling of quality to make them tick. For Kevin Brown read Tim Smith, Aaron Heremia read Pita Godinet etc etc. They showed plenty of guts and determination when up against it and set the benchmark early on in proving we have to battle for every point this year. I genuinely believe a couple of wins or so could be the difference between top 8 and bottom.

People saying child is useless I think your wrong.all the refs give everything to the so called bigger teams they are not making mistakes they must get told to.so I think he did is job bang on.

He was poor in both directions but, he certainly missed some obvious stuff.
The kick/trip by Matty Smith was right in front of him but, it took an intervention by one of the other officials before any action was taken, plus the late "tackle" by Tomkins which was just ignored, despite the guy running 20 yards to get involved.
Add to that the laying on and late "hits" on the kicker and it's fair to say that it wasn't his best game !

So u don't think refs are told to favour certain teams? I don't know but my opinion is they are.carnt remember the ref but st Helens at are place last year sticks in mind.

I thought Farrell should have been penalised several times at the play the ball and probably even sin-binned for persistent offending yet didn't get spoken to at all.
I think it was also him that took Joe Mellor high and late about halfway through the first half after Mellor put a kick through. Another offence that was worthy of a card IMO and didn't even get a penalty.

Well done James Child, 1 game in and we're all talking about refereeing instead of Widnes' comeback.

Yep, what Farrell was doing in the tackle and not getting pulled for, was worse than what Cahill kept get penalised for and all of a sudden Cahill gets a recommendation off Cummings that he should be close to a yellow card for persistent offending!
Child put himself in a difficult position by sending AhVan off, one which if he had been consistent wouldn't have been a problem.
But due to the inconsistency after the incident, he has got slated and rightly so.

There was definitely change as to how the Saints game was refereed in the second half (at our place last season) but, I don't think that there is any deliberate
bias or instruction given to help certain teams.
As someone as posted on the VT, in terms of performance last night, Wgan were far worse than the ref an they certainly weren't told to favour Widnes

I thought he was poor in both directions. It just affected Widnes more.

There were plenty of late shots on kicker early on from Widnes that went unchecked.

I think to say that it affected Widnes more, is an understatement.
As for the late Widnes shots, it's about time clubs started picking up on the unseen niggling tactics the 'bigger' clubs use.
If they get away with it, fine.
Then if the 'bigger' clubs start to complain, something might get done and everyone gets treated the same?

What about the crowd, 3,000 from Wigan and 3,500 free tickets for a dance or something before the kick off to break a world record, crowd 9,000, what would it have been with out the 3,500 free tickets and no Wigan fans

I think we’ve got our own problems spectator-wise without questioning/worrying about other clubs.

Here's a clue to how it's done squire, just in case I'm not here to work it out for you, just follow the instructions



9000
-3000
=6000
-3500
=[u2500 [/u answer underlined.

I thought you would come back with this, but yes thanks for the maths lesson squire

Not questioning at all, or worrying just saying, but thanks for picking me up on this old lad

I dont think Phil Bentham was much better tonight...

Ive watched both games and if this is the standard for this year it doesnt bode well.