If you pick any of my posts out where I mention George Stokes is clear to see that I think he is the worst, most inconsistent ref in the league. He did little to change my mind yesterday and no team can expect to win a game against decent opposition on the back of the penalty count we had yesterday.
That wasnt the only thing that affected the outcome of the game though. Like has been mentioned we made a load of stupid errors like going 12-4 up and then Barlow trying to offload off the floor in a 3 man tackle, just pure stupidity. We didnt play that well in the first half but took the chances we had but it was clear we were tired and any team defending set after set for whatever reason on your own line is going to crack.
Positives we can take out of the game are that despite been so tired I think we actually defended well considering we probably made twice as many tackles as Fev during the game. Nobody really stood out but I guess thats credit to Fev but a few players didnt step up to the plate.
Back to ref and a lot of the penalties were justified, some were questionable but I think its the inconsistency that frustrates fans. Sat on the side it was clear both sets of players were offside on every defensive set yet it took him until the second half when we were under the cosh to pull out a penalty for it. Yes we were probably offside but we were the set before and the set before. As for the try where Murrell got mugged, theres not a chance that would have been a try if it had been a tv game. Unfortunately for us that was probably the game breaker.
Its a set back but if you only lose a couple of games during the season make sure its against top opposition and we are still in the driving seat for the top spot with plenty to work on and plenty of improvement in us. I think we would have taken that at the beginning of the season.