Its a job I certainly wouldn't like to do, especially in front of some of the fans who frequent these boards.

Silverwood is gash, the guy sent of Crookes at the weekend for a high clumsy challenge which by no means was the worst we've seen this season yet was unable to send off Bowen for a clinical late swinging arm several metres after the player had kicked on..he's an absolute joke of a ref, I'd rather have Child.

Certainly some of the championship refs are coming along but watch them once in SL they'll be getting their orders regarding whom to ping and who not to.

Silverwood easily best ref.

Best
Thaler

Worst
Roby

Maybe not the worst you've seen and perhaps clumsy but, still 100% a red card.

Ganson is the one you don't mess about with. www.grapheine.com/bombaytv/illus ... 500d8.html

Ganson is the one you don't mess about with. www.grapheine.com/bombaytv/illus ... 500d8.html

If you'd watch todays farce in London you'd understand why. I've never seen a ref so out of his depth - including Scott Moore's first half sending off which virtually everybody missed resulting in a mass punch up. Awful stuff from Stokes although he could learn from today's game. A shame I can't find a video of it all.

Thomason seems to be a decent ref, we had Hick on Friday night never seen him have a good game yet.

Comments with a bias!!!

Thaler - Would not give him any matches but those on TV, then he simply refers the decisions to the video ref - so we stand a chance of getting the correct decision rather than his blunders at crucial times when not televised. Really needs to improve! I believe he is extremely overconfident in his own ability and please would he stop "chatting" to the players

Roby - I cant forget his words on TV "direct contact with the head" in the Warrington Widnes match last year when he was the touchjudge - result Cahill sending off!. The very next week he was reffing a match when a similar incident occurred (including use of the same words) but he reacted by giving a penalty!
He seems to be improving.

Hicks - not fussed at all and I do believe he needs more tested experience in championship matches. I would advise refs when he is touchjudge to ignore what he says - reference the recent touch line errors on a televised match. I have seen him change a touch judges decision at a Broncos match despite both the touchjudge (and myself) being far closer to an incident which ended up giving an advantage the wrong way. I have not seen much improvement.

Childs - Is improving all the time but I get the impression he leaps without looking sometimes and poor decisions result?

Silverwood - Still the best referee. A similar incident as that described above involving Cahill was dealt with him properly with words on the lines of "the tackle was high but unavoidable with the ball carrier slipping as he approached the tackler".

I would prefer refs to take charge of matches that do not involve their home town please.

The number of head clashes seems to be increasing sometimes accidentally?, sometimes by players on the same team - Surely some must be high/dangerous tackles.

I dont think we have anything like the number of officials to have two refs on the field - but I do favour a trial. However with the number of officials present at each game - Match Commissioner, Ref, Touchjudges, Reserve official, two behind the sticks - surely we can improve decision making.

The number of forward passes are an embarrassment particularly when a try resullts. The comment repeated by Cummings a few weeks ago that you cant test for a forward pass because of difficult camera angles I feel is nonsense. As we have seen a virtual line across the screen/pitch to test for offside at a kick I am sure forwards can be dealt with in the same way! I dont subscribe to the argument that the are too may time delaying decisions by video - we need accurate decisions. Maybe Captains call should be allowed when a suspected forward pass results in a try.

I wonder are touchjudges told not to offer the ref assistance in certain circumstances?

No they can't, the speed & direction of the player passing the ball would be just two factors that would need to be analysed if it's to be anything like accurate in relation to any line. This is because the ball has forward momentum when a player is running forward, the pass is relative to the player passing it NOT the ground. This is specifically mentioned in the laws.
In RU their laws stipulates that the ball shall not travel forward toward the try line though interpretation of such is now accepting of momentum as to why a ball will travel forward in relation to the ground but will have actually being passed backwards.

Drawing a line on the pitch would be a great solution if the laws suggested the ball needed to go backwards relative to the pitch. Unfortunately that would be a stupid rule which would destroy the game so the solution is rather besides the point.

As for best ref, Thaler has been the best for several seasons now.

Quote ="Torbreck"If you'd watch todays farce in London you'd understand why. I've never seen a ref so out of his depth - including Scott Moore's first half sending off which virtually everybody missed resulting in a mass punch up. Awful stuff from Stokes although he could learn from today's game. A shame I can't find a video of it all.'" thankfully stokes and the linesman saw the challenge by moore, as did many around us! straight red card! look around on twitter and see scott moore admitting he hit him high and deserved to walk and just in case you cant find a picture or video, hope this helps https://twitter.com/RGPhotos/status/473 ... 00/photo/1

Quote ="Torbreck"If you'd watch todays farce in London you'd understand why. I've never seen a ref so out of his depth - including Scott Moore's first half sending off which virtually everybody missed resulting in a mass punch up. Awful stuff from Stokes although he could learn from today's game. A shame I can't find a video of it all.'" thankfully stokes and the linesman saw the challenge by moore, as did many around us! straight red card! look around on twitter and see scott moore admitting he hit him high and deserved to walk and just in case you cant find a picture or video, hope this helps https://twitter.com/RGPhotos/status/473 ... 00/photo/1

Thanks for the link. Great photo and he deserved to walk looking at that. A shame we missed it.

Silverwood the best IMO.
Thaler can be good and can be awful.
Bentham is pretty good usually.
Child, very poor and vindictive.
Hicks, just hapless. Ref'd with last years rules in one game.
Roby, terrible!

One thing came up in the Friday Wire v Leeds game in that Cummings said the VR cannot tell the ref of a wrong decision unless he is asked, due to the protocols.
Well they should change them and we might get a lot more correct decisions than we are now!

Bring back Alibert! He was too useless to be biased, so it was always an interesting game with him in charge.

I am a Leeds fan, and I have thought Thaler the best referee in the UK for the past three years. And not even close, he is miles ahead of everyone else. We have lost a few with him, but I still find him consistent, approachable for players, no ego, and try's to let the game flow where he can.

The best ref at the moment?

Given there's no games on right now, they're all pretty decent as referees.

Despite this, Hicks is still blowing up for a knock on, and Bentham's asking the video ref to check what his Mrs is making for tea.

Worse ref Thaler for me. Probably best ref for teams he likes.

Just to point something out on this, a kick downfield is going with the direction and momentum it gains from the kick, a pass is by and large passed backwards but the ball starts with the travelling speed of the player who passes it and will slow down its forward motion as it travels through the air.

Imagine driving a car into a wall at 60MPH. The car comes to a dead stop (0MPH) whilst you exit through the front window of the car as you are still travelling at 60MPH. You decide as the car hits the wall to try and drive into the back seat but when the car hits the wall what speed do you think you are travelling at? Still 60MPH in a forward direction despite jumping backwards.

That my friend is velocity and deceleration in action. You can't use a static line to judge a forward pass, you have to look at the direction of the hands. the direction the player was running prior to the pass and of the pass.

Maybe they should bring in the old Sunday league rule of one sub from each side reffing a half each. The penalty counts would even themselves up after half time...oh wait there...

The Video refs have already made use of a "virtual" line across the screen/pitch, this line being at right angle to the touch lines, for the purpose of determining off side at a kick.

Using the same "virtual" line by the video refs will certainly help to determine whether the ball has left the passers hands in a forward direction - if the ball crosses the line it is a forward and momentum would not be a concern. It is certainly worth using the system where a try is scored following a possible forward pass.

For that to work the virtual line couldn't be a static one like that used for offside. It would need to be a moving one. One moving in the same direction and speed as the ball was immediately prior to the ball leaving the hands of the passer.

But the pitch is a 2d area.

When looking at passes, any change in altitude resulting from the pass can cause confusion.

The best ref is the one that is reffing someone else's match.