I don't think we have enough of them to do that , we would run out of refs for SL

i watched the game had it on silent as i was doing something but i saw the escare incident and me not knowing the ins and outs of every specific rule i can not see how anyone can say it wasnt a penalty he was tackled with a man on his legs he got up and ran off after a tackle without playing the ball its common sense he cant do that the ref got it spot on so why he should be disciplined is madness id have gave penalty 101 times out of 100

Sounds like the ref is having a mare at the Batley game too

The decision in the Catalan game was appauling. Usually they just make them play it again why was this different it was bizarre. Inconsistency by the refs is ruining our great game; the refs need to be stronger aswell in regards how they are spoken to. Thaler is about the best but he is again v inconsistent.

FFS - THEY DONT JUST MAKE THEM PLAY IT AGAIN!!! It's been explained umpteen times why he was penalised. What's the matter with you???

because he likes to be the centre of attention 101 times out 100 id have given a penalty its common sense as i said god knows what escare was thinking complete and utter brain fart he had

But that creates ambiguity doesn't it - who can accurately judge if a player has heard the 'held' call or not?

Bren, I normally think your posts are pretty sensible but on this thread......?
The ref normally only calls held if the ball carrier is just stopped or doesn't go fully on to the ground. I happen to think refs often call held far too soon ie. Whist the runner is still making progress or could, possibly, get the ball away but that's a different matter altogether. It's not up to the ref to tell a player who has clearly been tackled that he's been tackled. It's up to the player to know it, get up and play the ball. I know it can be fraught. I was reffing once when a player was tackled, his ball carrying arm touched the ground, and he flicked the ball up to a colleague in a very skillful manner. I penalised him. He called me a bent . I sent him off!

And in other referee news Tim Roby is off to the NRL. Yep you read that right!

Perhaps the issue of refs deciding games is an indication of a closer super league, as the scores have to be close for the referee to be the difference. There are some positives.

No sign of #AskTheRef this week on twitter, are they afraid to answer this week's questions?

[urlhttps://twitter.com/RFLReferees[/url

The ref's being in the spotlight is not just about the closeness of the games, it's more to do with the spectre of the middle 8, which has put pressure on all parties:, teams, coaches, players, refs etc.

I suppose this is exactly what our governing body/Sky wanted, when we moved to the new structure.
If it were just the bottom club to be relegated, then perhaps the spotlight wouldn't be quite so bright but, with the bottom 4 dropping into the "raffle", there is substantial added pressure.
Also, the top clubs cant afford too many reversals, as they will then miss out on the play offs.

4 games in and the excitement is unbearable

there doing it now they have admitted turners try should not have counted!!

Great, that helps us a lot now doesn't it. Ref, Touch judges and Video ref all miss blatant offside. Thanks a lot for that!

I notice they also said Wellens trip should have been a penalty, but that it was a slip so not deliberate. I guess expecting them to acknowledge 2 huge errors in one game was too much to hope for.

But they did admit 2 errors, though the 2nd one only a penalty, I guess for that Hicks gets demoted for a few weeks, thought not

Well golly gumdrops that's one scored that should not have been and a penalty that should have gone our way had a look at the scores and it still says saints won.Fat lot of good with all the high tech gear at the game a ref two touch judges and two video refs it does.

I'm sorry to have disappointed you - but I think it's a valid point that speaks to a wider problem with how the ruck is officiated; I've said before that the ref is far too involved and all the shouts of "held, move, hold, go, quicker etc" are too intrusive. Tell all the clubs what the expectations are around the ruck, then start penalising players when they infringe - they've become too reliant on the ref calls now, hence the ridiculous spectacle of a tackler laying on top of a tacklee, staring up at the ref, but feeling no compulsion to clear the ruck until the ref calls move. When did it become the ref's job to coach the players? Equally, this silly idea of bringing play back just in case a player doesn't hear the ref's call - it's impossible to say with certainty if he has or hasn't heard and given that modern coaching techniques are based largely around legal cheating, it's not beyond imagination that a player will deliberately try a cheeky offload (or a scoot as in this case) as the ref calls held, because he knows he'll get the ball back. The existence of the rule creates the conditions for ambiguity, hence the outrage about Escare being penalised. The only way to manage that is to make the rules clear, then penalise *all* players when they don't abide by them - rather than have the ref continuously coach the players throughout the game and apply the rules inconsistently based on an uncertain perception.

I might be an old fuddy-duddy, but I think the modern game, for all it speed and athleticism, is at risk of becoming an ugly and unattractive spectacle; and that's accelerated by the systemic cheating of certain coaches, who seem to spend a lot of time working out how to circumvent the rules. They're like car thieves - every time a new alarm or lock comes out, someone has already worked out how to nick your car.

Normal service is resumed. I couldn't agree more with everything you've said.

Yes, he's been found guilty of impersonating a Rugby League Referee'.

Has been sentenced to try to referee in Australia, This is also a punishment to the Aussies for them keep beating England

Is it the new way of getting criminals to Australia?

@PeteSmithYEP: Today's Inside #Rugbyleague column from @leedsnews. On video refs. t.co/bseWpyYu4c @leedsrhinos @WTWildcatsRL @CTRLFC

@PeteSmithYEP: Today's Inside #Rugbyleague column from @leedsnews. On video refs. t.co/bseWpyYu4c @leedsrhinos @WTWildcatsRL @CTRLFC

Quote ="djcool"@PeteSmithYEP: Today's Inside #Rugbyleague column from @leedsnews. On video refs. t.co/bseWpyYu4c @leedsrhinos @WTWildcatsRL @CTRLFC '" Very fair article there and there is no doubt that Cas were denied a perfectly good try in Perpignan. Wakefield were done by the VR against Saints (the offside try) and they seem to get the decision wrong as often as they get it right. Whether this is down to a conflict of opinion between the 2 video refs, I don't know but, this season is as bad as ever and of course, with the return of promotion and relegation, they could cost a club it's place in SL.

Quote ="djcool"@PeteSmithYEP: Today's Inside #Rugbyleague column from @leedsnews. On video refs. t.co/bseWpyYu4c @leedsrhinos @WTWildcatsRL @CTRLFC '" Very fair article there and there is no doubt that Cas were denied a perfectly good try in Perpignan. Wakefield were done by the VR against Saints (the offside try) and they seem to get the decision wrong as often as they get it right. Whether this is down to a conflict of opinion between the 2 video refs, I don't know but, this season is as bad as ever and of course, with the return of promotion and relegation, they could cost a club it's place in SL.

At least we seem to have done away with pictures of the two muppets in anoraks fiddling with the screen technology while trying to make the wrong decision.

The pictures may have gone but, we know what they are doing

In my reply to Peter, I said that refs that make match winning/losing mistakes should be suspended or have some sort of penalty but as he said while they were short of refs, they won't do that. Surely that makes them untouchable? If I made mistakes that cost in my job I would at least be disaplinned