I won't mention the ref to start with, yet again we've lost a game having had it won. This inability to close out games against the top sides is bound to come back and bite us on the bum late on in the season, and in this case, not only have we not won we've not picked up a bonus point due to Dane McDonald literally throwing it away. Whether he's good enough for this level is up in the air but he certainly isn't a half back. Widnes got back into the game due to their aggression and physical play, at times they were too physical, and now on to the guy who allowed that to happen...

I fully believe the referee's incompetence cost us the game today, definitely cost us a point at least. Just find out he was in fact only 19 years of age, the fact that the RFL allowed him to have such a big game is a disgrace. He allowed Widnes to become over physical and this took the game away from us. Mark Smith was reffing the game more than the guy with the whistle was. The incident where Sam Barlow was taken out after releasing the ball, with what looked like an elbow/forearm to the face, the referee must have seen because he blew his whistle and gave a penalty, then picked the correct Widnes player out of the line and gave him a talking to, before putting the incident on report. If he's seen the incident, I want to know why he hasn't at least put him in the sin bin, maybe even sent him for an early bath. Then the brawl, first of all I don't think it was a high tackle by our player (Tangi Ropati?) I think it was a fair hit to the shoulder, but the man in the middle thought otherwise. This triggered the brawl in which Mark Smith ran 10 yards to lamp Ropati in the face, for this he was sin binned, as was Tangi, not a clue what for, if it was for the initial hit then that's yet another atrocious decision. In the said incident, there must have been 20 guys throwing punches. How he gave two YELLOW CARDS is beyond me, should've been at least one red.

I just hope we don't get the guy again, or we get him a few years down the line when he's had more matchday experience, but hopefully not at our expense again.

Edit: It was Misi Taulapapa who was involved in the brawl, not Tangi.

I think that's the crux of the matter. Mark Smith IS an old style hooker and as captain, it's his job to question decisions and try and get the best out of the ref for his team. I think he did that today, as he usually does, but had the ref been more experienced, things may have been different. I've watched Warren Turley from being a National Conference ref, and he struggled there. And I have to say that I heard plenty of Widnes fans complaining about his performance as well, so it seems he was just as bad for both sides, but winning sweetens the pill, I guess.

The referees main responsibility is to control the game and protect the players. Mr Turney did not do either of these things at all yesterday.

I never blamed him for losing the game, you should know by now that in modern day RL you have to play the ref correctly as well as the opposition. It should not be that way but sadly it is.

Sensible post, as I'd already acknowledged our inability to see out games which are virtually won will come back to haunt us at the end of the season.

Carry on and you're banned.

I don't think I need to say anything else as it's pretty much all been covered.

Can all wannabe scousers now hitch hike back to their own forum. Thanks in advance.