How does thus guy get such a gig? Terrible call

Agree how did he get the gig but to be fair I thought from one of the camera angles he did look out (but only just

)

Shocking ref, poor touchjudge...Guilty of treason

Him

Smug little too...

Charnley's casual chase back was more irritating though

His foot touched the whitewash as far as I could see, so correct decision. He should have taken note of how Billy Slater deals with balls like that.

It probably was only by a toe or so. Hicks was pointing down at the line to indicate "look there's a mark" so no complaints.

The chase caused all the problems. (For MINE).

Had he put more speed into chasing back, it would never have been so close. There where 3 - 4 footsteps that where dodgy in terms of how close he was to the line. It should not be such a fine call on a pretty much nothing kick.

Thoought it was his heel - twice.

Exactly !

He was probably in touch but agree about Hicks. He should be watching the WC from his sofa at home.

I don't think he was and even on the video with super close up, there was no angle that proved definitively that he was. On most of them there appeared to be clear green between foot and line.

There is no chance Hicks, running and bobbing up and down could see that and judge it, even if it is proven that he did touch the line. It's what the bloody video ref is for, the ref was all too willing to only use it against England today.

There was doubt about his foot being in touch but what got my back up was that the ref did not go to the video? a few odd calls, for me the main one when he called chase to move round the scrum as the Aussies were actually feeding the scrum how were they expected to get set? the ref should stop trying to coach, if Chase was wrong penalise him. I was happy with England there is hope in that performance.

I agree. Also, did the ref go to the screen every time we scored, but not every time for the Ozzies?

We seem to get this every tournament. The Ozzies don't need any help from the officials . The worst or biased official I have ever seen was Bill Harrigan, now he was shameful.

I remember Tony archer in the 4n game at Melbourne being particularly bad.

Not sure if Charnley was in touch or not but if he'd have chased it with some bloody urgency then he would have been able to take it with ease. Looked like he was out for a casual morning jog. Infuriating!

That's the difference, the extra 1%.

Charnley ambled back until it was too late.

Slater sprinted back then supermanned our 40/20 back into the field.

100% if roles were reversed slater would have prevent the 40/20 that charnley took out.

Heres a funny idea.

england v aus = kiwi ref
england v kiwi = aus ref
aus v kiwi - english ref

Who'd a thunk it?

The ref was a kiwi wasn't he?
Hicks was English and the video UK.

We can hardly call bias.

There was clear evidence that Charnleys left boot displaces about an inch of touch line. An indentation if left on the line.

It was a close call but sadly the right ones like the forward pass is give Tomkins took near half way. It's frustrating as I saw what I considered to be several forward passes by the Aussies which never went punished.

As fans we have a duty to hound Hicks out of the game at every match he officiates in next season though, it's only fair......

It was a 50/50 call you cant really argue with Hicks whatever way he swung

at least he made a decision something which people on these boards complain about, touch judges not doing this so well done Robert.

Charnley could have put a bit more in his chase back but as the pitch was clearly cutting up he maybe didn't want to fall on his face. (cheap excuse). But Edwards pointed it out in the replay of the try you cant control the officials but you can control what you do in defence and with the ball and the team as a whole should have done a lot better with conceding a try on the first tackle from a set play.

the ref let a lot of forward passes go the suddenly started spotting them , wasnt the best reffing performance , certainly in the burgees high shot incident...
will be interesting to see if anybody does get sent off this wc for a high shot after letting sam off

Sadly Mr Hicks likes to be the centre of attention, his smug grin personifies the man.

How can hicks give a decision he cannot be sure about? He's guessed that he's gone out because even on the replays it's not 100% clear if he had.

Charnley back chatting and leaving a one man overlap on the far side was very poor play.

Wasn't a fan of the ref either, although I suppose he won't be that bad when I watch it back.