Conceded: Wigan 1 Catalans 5

Not a hard game to referee but 1 penalty conceded has never been heard of in recent years.

Having said that the Hull v Quins penalty count was 2-5.

I think they are really trying to cut down on the number of penalties this year. This time last year we had 25+ penalties in almost every game. Less penalties and more restraint from the refs make for a better game imo.

Thaler isn't big into penalties and I like him for that.

He tends to let the game flow which is great but he has had his run in's with some of the games coaches over the past few years.

I was glad to see that that the human embodiment of the word 'inconsistency' - Richard Silverwood - got criticised by the commentators last night.

Of course, they didn't criticise him for the 30-odd penalties he gave against Wigan in the first half at Saints a few years ago and the near clean-sheet he kept in the second (when Saints had the game won). But any exposure of that pillock is fine by me.

Come on Let it go, like you said a few years ago! They probably didn't mention it because they dont remember. Also I'm pretty sure it wasn't 30 odd penalties.

I'll let it go when he's no longer a referee. There's the other not insignificant matter of him "not hearing the hooter" last year, allowing play on and Hull KR to subsequently score a vital and ultimately match-winning try.

I know the game your referring to but 30 odd? I don't think so. 30 odd pens in one half would be impossible to achieve. In fact you'd struggle to do that in a whole match.

If anyone can do it, Dick Silverwood can.

Well it was a poor performance though last night. All that turning round and waiting for the referee to say "move" was garbage. Watch Leeds try to do that all the time now though!

BTW the penalty count in the Saints game you refer to was 9 for 12 against.

Thanks, B.



I'm sure I must be thinking of another one.

Does anyone not think that Rugby League may have tok a few steps back with last nights game, as now all the teams wil be staying on the man until the referee says move therefore slowing the game down and thus taking it back to a few years ago

Definetly. They need to nip that in the bud straight away because it was nauseating!

I have to admit that I looked at that and wondered how long it will take Madge to drill our boys into doing exactly the same.

IMO, there is nothing wrong with "playing to the ref".

He rightly penalised Melbourne a few times in the first half for pushing it too far, but as soon as they started to release the instant he called either "Move" or "Release", the defence got on top and the Rhinos were stifled.

I enjoy a good defensive tussle, and wouldn't mind ud playing like that against the likes of Leeds/Saints/Warrington, and leave the free-flowing stuff for either when the opposition tires from our relentless pressure, or the teams with less defensive clout (like last Friday).

Last nights game was done under international rules wasn't it which are slightly different than SL ones. I know controlled restarts are one difference but i think the other is the players can wait until the ref tells them to move.

But will the slowing of the game mean that players will have to be cleverer and ultimately more skilful to break a defence down. In the 80's the play of the ball was painfully slow but the skill of players like Gregory, Hanley, Edwards, Woods, Myler etc seemed to be better than that of their modern equivalents.

I posted on the Leeds site about the current trend of teams getting three and four men in the tackle.

Some of our more mature "old gits" will remember the great Brian Mctigue. He would have loved that sort of defence. He would just have drove into the tackle and the ball would, as if by magic appear into the hands of the likes of Tommy or Sam.

The game is obsessed with speed of the play the ball and scooter hookers. The real ball playing forwards have been lost to the game.

There was no tackle count then though so their was no real rush to get up the field?

Last night was dire to watch and I don't think international rules has much to do with it. I initially wanted Storm to win but the way they were slowing Leeds down started to annoy me to the point of subconsciously changing my mind.

I'm very happy that Melbourne got the win.

I've had them as my NRL team for a number of years (since they came over to play Saints a few years back).

Anyway - Yes, they wrestled to the point of frustration (and beyond in Keith Senior's case), but that's the sort of game that was needed last night.

Let me expand on that:
They were playing a pre-season match against a team that's 4 games into its season
The weather was HORRIBLE - Cold, extremely wet and not at all condusive to the runaround game (although they did much more passing than I expected).
They (by which I mean BOTH teams) had obviously agreed the rules before the match, and Melbourne were far better at working within them than Leeds.

As I said earlier - I'd be happy for us to grind out a win EXACTLY like that when it's required, as for too long we've played in the same way come rain, shine or whatever and it has cost us plenty of points.

If we're playing a tough, defensive team, let's get our defence on top of theirs and grind them down until our wingers can take advantage.

If it means the odd "boring" win then fine, I'll take that quite happily - Just as long as we go flat out in attack wherever and whenever we can (like Friday night).

As for this week - I reckon we should go for the steam-roller approach.
Bradford are pants in all honesty, and anything less than a 10 to 20 point margin means that either they've improved massively within a week or else we haven't tried hard enough.

Dick Silverwood - loved his impressions of screech from saved by the bell last night when calling out the plays, held and surrender. Had he swallowed the pea from his whistle or what????

yeh agreed 1 penalty given away friday night was spot on. Any team that gives very few penalties away is in with a good chance of a win these days. There are so many teams that close to each other in terms of ability and speed. 1 penalty could make all the difference.

Cruncher in Random anger at Saints and the referee shocker.

Leeds have no right to moan. They were beaten by a far better side. Richard Silverwood is an awful referee, but that is not why they lost.

I think Melbourne would have loved nothing more than to get a quick PTB. They have the best hooker in the world in Cameron Smith and if it was that type of game they would have torn Leeds apart. The conditions didn't allow for it though.

the conditions were certainly a leveler

Of course they were.

Play the game on a dry field in Melbourne and Leeds would get whitewashed.