The rules for the Wigan v Saints game don't appear as strict as they were for Wakefield last week.







Could Pauli Pauli play in a Saints or Wigan shirt on Sunday?

he doesn't need to..... hicks isn't the ref.........

I only saw the last 15 minutes for the Saints/Wigan game but I think the inconsistency applied again. I think it was Grace who placed the ball on the ground, kept full hand contact and pressure on the ball to play the ball and Hicks still said knock on. I think whilst players do get away with incorrect play the balls there are also a number where I think the play the ball is fine but the refs still bizarrely blow up. The incident last week with Pauli Pauli trying to play the ball and the marker not moving off him was a crazy penalty against us.

Do you know, I was thinking exactly this. Numerous ptb the player didn't regain his feet and / or just rolled the ball back, I despair of the fact that we've been pinged for this - and I thought the pen Sts were awarded when Thomson had made a break should have been a pen to Wigan. Great game overall though and Sts looked superb.

Saints did look very good but deffo got the run of the ball and the 50/50 calls.

I didn't really have an issue in principle with Pauli being penalised; he played the ball before he got up, which is not allowed.

The issue, as others have said, is consistency; hardly anyone plays it properly, and many don't even make an attempt - Big Dave being a major offender - but the wat it gets penalised is all over the place; and it's not helped by the tendency of the tacklers to lean in, stick a leg out, keep a hand on the tackled player etc etc. It's a timeless moan - but it never gets sorted.

Wasn't that pen awarded before Pauli even got up? Allegedly for some offence against the Leeds marker.

I don't recall - I thought it was for an incorrect ptb.

In any event, the point remains - management of the ptb is a lottery.

Allegedly holding on to a Leeds players shirt I believe

If it was last tackle on the halfway line, nobody would be giving it a second thought, just one of those unknowns.
But because it was the first of a set, 10 yards out of Leeds line, it becomes a momentum changer, magnified by the random nature of it, I mean, its not like anyone just dropped the ball first drive or buggered up a play with crossing or obstruction or anything, it didn't appear to be self inflicted.
Dunno about game changer, there was lots of game to play and anything could have happened, but at the time it was a bit of a kick in the nutz.
It feels like we could make a flippin long list of kicks in the nutz this season, but its very difficult to be completely dispassionate about what we see, I'm sure that's true of every club fan base.