Quote ="The Magic Rat"Some good points regarding the use of the VR to decide on scrums and drop outs. This is something that is creeping into the game more and more. Have i missed a change in the rules allowing the referee to consult on these type of incidents? I only thought they were allowed to be consulted for try scoring opportunties and 40-20's.'"
If the knock on decision was the one I think it was, a saints player had actually grounded the ball despite fairly obviously having gone into touch. Silverwood referred it to the VR, ostensibly to check whether the score should be allowed. The VR ruled out the try but confirmed that the game should be restarted with a scrum following an earlier knock on. I'm pretty sure that Silverwood knew there was no try and effectively used the VR to adjudicate on the knock on. Had there been no grounding of the ball, Silverwood wouldn't have been able to use the VR; as it was, he took advantage of a fairly unusual set of circumstances to come to the right decision.
Having said all that, I'd be 100% happy to see the VR scrapped.