Things need putting into perspective a little here, First off the most difficult job on that pitch is that of the ref. He has to control and manage 26 hard, aggressive men who are trying to knock seven bells out of each other. While doing that he is expected to also follow every on the ball and off the ball incident and make the right calls at all times.

He does this to a backdrop of aggressive Supporters ( and in the amateur game parents ) who wont miss a single thing that happens to their players or kids, while seeming able to explain away every infringement their own team commits. Anyone who has reffed, be it at under 8's in the North west counties or at the top level will tell you it is nightmare job. I have reffed only between the ages of u7's and u9's and i die a little inside each time im forced to do it, forced by the fact that if i dont, 20 odd kids dont get to play rugby on that sunday.

At the end of that match, i will be criticized by parents, players and coaches from both teams for the things i miss. I have only ever once received a compliment at the end of a game regardless of how the game goes. comments like " how did you miss that shot off the ball!" are pretty common or, " They are always offside", " How did you miss that knock on, i saw it clear as day ". Newsflash guys, while you are concentrating solely on either your child ( at Amateur ) or your team ( Professional ) the ref is trying to concentrate on every player on the pitch. While policing the Defensive line, he is trying to control the play the ball, the markers. He is trying to keep his eye on the kid who has lost his temper and is looking for trouble, all the while he is surrounded by people screaming at him that he is doing a poor Job. In many cases he is getting Verbal abuse of the kind most people wouldnt dream to use outside of the Rugby enviroment.

And all the time he is, Alone trying to control those 26 Aggressive, Powerful rugby players intent on smashing each other. Had that game not been live no one would have batted an eyelid at Ahh vans sending off, He hit high and left a player unconscious. But sky have 27 cameras and 400,000 experts to judge that decision.

My main issue with the Officiating at the game last night was how little help referees seem to get from touch judges, you remember when a touch judge helps make a decision because they are so rare. Seriously the guys at Sky dont help, the 400,000 experts watching sky sports dont help neither do the hundreds of negative posts on the net that seem solely intent on talking only about the referee.

Think you could do a better job? from around march the 1st hundreds of games will be getting played all over the country as junior rugby league starts again. There will be refs available for very few of them, but for every one person who is willing to do that role so others can enjoy their sport, there will be litterally hundreds of people just waiting to abuse them as an outlet for their lack of understanding of both the rules and the pressures of refereeing a sport like this.

I will do it again, and i hate it, and i will get abuse, threatened and want to give it up. Ask why there are not many great refs in Rugby league and then have a go yourself. You will never ask that question again.

Yes it appears the French players (and i will include Ian Henderson in this) have been attending amateur dramatic classes in the off season. Be interesting if it continues this season.

It's very easy to miss something like that on the run on the ground. If you look away for one moment to check to your left or right you'll miss it. The difference between Thaler and Child is that Child has repeated form for creating controversial situations, making incorrect decisions and lacking empathy with the players whereas Thaler doesn't.

Every ref misses things, every ref has bad performances, every ref makes incorrect critical decisions, evey ref will lose control of some games. It is a fact of life. James Child unfortunately manages to achieve it seemingly most weeks.

to be fair to child, and i have criticized him in the past, the players in the catalan-cas game didn't exactly make it easy for him, most officials would have struggled to contain that kind of aggressive behaviour and play acting from the french, yes he got a few things wrong like all officials do but the players have to also take some responsibilty for not heeding his warnings and acting professionally and getting on with the game.

That play developed in front of him though so not sure how he couldn't see it unless he was pigeon spotting or something! I mean it was as blatant a crossing and obstruction as you'll see. Sure they all make mistakes and the 50-50 won't always go your way but some decisions just seem bizarre.

In fairness McGuire's try looked worse on TV than it did live, possibly because the camera foreshortened the view.