Hicks and Thaler came close. : Mon Oct 29, 2018 10:25 am  

It was the first time for a while, in the first test vs NZ, that I thought our refs told it like it is and penalised accordingly ... well nearly!
I have a view, perhaps wrongly, that our refs bend over backwards for tourist teams in an effort to not appear biassed in our favour.
It is almost subconscious and they find it hard to counter it.

I have never seen an Aussie walk, but have seen at least 2 Brits walk.

Back to Saturday ... the Kiwis weren't dirty, but they were full of cheating/ gamesmanship ... and largely they got away with it, but Hicks did stand up to them somewhat.
But he was still soft!
That peno under the posts against Hill by Johnson was a case in point.
He dived and should have been told quite simply and calmly to 'get up'.

Head high shots, crawling all over players, shoves, slowing down tactics, it all went off largely unpunished.

Hicks didn't stand for their lip though ... that was something.

So though better, our refs have a long way to go ... just punish the buggers and never mind the bias accusations.

Re: Hicks and Thaler came close. : Mon Oct 29, 2018 6:32 pm  

I agree with you but you could see Hicks was trying to keep the game flowing rather than create a stop start game which he would also have been criticised for.
Talking of Thaler he made a bad call when disallowing the NZ try.It clearly came off Jake Connors arm before the Kiwi player grounded the ball.

Re: Hicks and Thaler came close. : Tue Oct 30, 2018 7:22 am  

bonaire wrote:

I agree with you but you could see Hicks was trying to keep the game flowing rather than create a stop start game which he would also have been criticised for.
Talking of Thaler he made a bad call when disallowing the NZ try.It clearly came off Jake Connors arm before the Kiwi player grounded the ball.

Personally I disagree definitely Rapana's hand for mine. Also I don't think letting the game flow should be an excuse to let go foul play for example the off the ball clothesline on Tomkins in a potentially try scoring situation, or any warea-hargreaves 'tackle' .

In regards to letting the game flow how much better would this have happened if the kiwis were made to get up after a tackle allowing a quick ptb to be a thing rather than the stodgefest it became. If the ref was strong in these areas to start there may have been more penalties early on but then players would adapt and we would have a truly flowing game from then on.

Also it would have been nice if the kiwis were made to push our guys back over the tryline rather than picking them up and carrying them.

Ps was I the only one appalled by DWZ's lip to the officials after all that in the prematch about his relative makes me think he is captain for sentimentality as opposed to being ready/deserving?

Re: Hicks and Thaler came close. : Tue Oct 30, 2018 9:09 am  

I have to agree, that although it can make for a flowing game when the ref 'stays out of it', it can't be done by turning a blind eye or more to the point by lowerering standards.

Players work refs, that is stating the obvious, they do.
They will see how far they can go before he gives a peno.

If the ref can't see this and is soft, fairness will suffer and players will get frustrated.

The number of times I have shouted at the telly watching say Wigan perform their box of tricks is legend.

Similarly with our lads, although they do it too, I feel they do try to play to the spirit of the game, not win at any cost.
And I feel that they have been kept from a couple more wins here and there and a few more tries by refs being unfair, taking the 'anything for a quiet life' option and letting cheating go.