Paul Thexton wrote:I was about to laugh at this thread, and then I got depressed instead. Once again there are people spouting things on here about the 'laws' of the game that bear no resemblance to those laws which are freely downloadable from the RFL website. Inexcusable. maybe some of the officials would care to browse through them sometime ? especially before attempting the Perpignan run...

Paul Thexton wrote:I was about to laugh at this thread, and then I got depressed instead. Once again there are people spouting things on here about the 'laws' of the game that bear no resemblance to those laws which are freely downloadable from the RFL website. Inexcusable. maybe some of the officials would care to browse through them sometime ? especially before attempting the Perpignan run...

Quite a strange thread this one.
It starts off so adamant that the officials are useless and get everything wrong and yet all of the forum experts are unable to agree on the 2 decisions.
IMO the Briers knock on was a knock on, but the decision to disallow the try was spot on (with the benefit of the VR)
Having said that, both of these decisions would very likely be given the opposite way round on a Sunday afternoon (without the VR)
Certainly the "try" would have stood.

The BBC summary where they CGI'd in lines across the pitch at 1) the point of contact with the ball, and 2) where the ball actually landed, shows pretty clearly that the ball landed behind the point of impact with Briers, but I would definitely not be grumbling had that been given as a knock on, mainly because it would be so difficult to judge that on eye sight alone and could forgive the touchie for making the call - A lucky (but correct) break for Wire IMO.

Kylie decision at the game baffled but did ref get it right, yes

Briers decision at the game baffled but did ref get it right, yes, he leans ever so discreetly into Hall.

Briers knock on, again at the game baffled on TV right call

only ones wrong for me is Paul Wood not going to the bin and Carvell ball strip when Bailey had clearly dropped it.

It's very, very rare that I've been to watch a game and come home convinced that the ref got it wrong, to then be proven correct on watching the replay on TV. The majority of the time the officials actually get it right, it's the arrogant big headed berks in the terraces who are mostly wrong. The most difficult aspect for the refs is the forward pass, and the only way you could be sure of getting that right every single time would be to have the depth perception of a falcon. Maybe we should be having a word with scientists to see if they can genetically modify our officials so that they have the additional fovea that birds of prey have!

...and yet again Mr Thexton brings sense and reality to the situation.

The majority on here need to actually go out and referee a game - at any level. Only then will they appreciate how difficult it is. I've done it and it's not easy, without the pressure of 80,000 in the arena and millions watching on TV.

I'd say they get at least 95% of the decisions correct and the rest tend to be 50/50 calls.

I have no problem with the discussion abou the decisions. They are important. That's what we do. I thought each of them were good decisions, though close ones.

But saying all that, a couple of 50-50 decisions in a game is not "Rugby League no credibility left any more"!

I reckon even if those three decisions were all proved to be wrong the ref wouldn't be in the top half in a list of errors on that field.

the forward pass is indeed a tricky one to get right and I have every sympathy with the poor old hard done ref but maybe if he instructed his TJs to be more proactive , like Messers Roby and Child in the CC Final then their decisions would be more credible and even correct !
Some refs ask the TJs to help with certain decisions and others don't it would seem

How many passes in that game, how many tackles, how many separate dummy runs.

Just those things alone add them up, the ref is making a judgement in his mind on every single one, and that is just those things, add in getting the players onside and the other countless things, i'd be actually amazed if any ref ever gets a 100% correct game.

it's the old ' go out and try reffing yourself' chestnut again ! it always rears it's head when reffing is on the agenda
why should anyone need to go and try reffing in order to give an opinion on a reffing display ? I don't need to be a mechanic to know what's wrong with my old banger, I take it to a pro mechanic who is paid to do that job on my behalf nor do I need to play at being a doctor to find out what's wrong with me or any other professional practioner for that matter - these guys are paid professionals who should be expected to get the correct decisions and most of the time they do a great job - Mr Silverwood plus TJs were excellent in the CC Final IMO and the 50-50s are always going to be open to debate
my problem is the old question of consistency and interpretation which is so unbalanced this season for some reason, again IMO

the reffing at Perpignan has been farcical at the GB this season with some reffing performances totally incredulous and I say that as a neutral fan, except for the Saints game where we somehow managed to scrape a victory thanks to some very dubious ref & VR calls