Northampton Saints

Everyones talking about it so wondered your views.... NZ media crying foul and blaming another French referee..... but to be honest even with 15 NZ probably would have lost oz were very good as they tend to be on the eve of a world cup.

Kiwi media bleating. They were losing before. It was a shoulder to the head, no arms, laws are straight red and that’s it. If you don’t like the laws, fine. He led with no arms, no excuse.


All Blacks peaked just before losing to Ireland in Chicago. They’re now panicking because they’ve tried to shovel Barrett into the team and his brother is better at 15. Read is over the hill and they’ve lost 3 big team leaders since they were unbeatable - McCaw, Carter and Conrad Smith.

There for the taking now.....I really fancy South Africa for the RWC.

They are desperate to pick SBW but he isn't good enough now and they refuse to pick matty Proctor's centre partner at Wellington even though hes an immense 12. Agree the RWC is wide open and the odds on SA are tumbling.

Australia were the better side on the day but the red card was a red card. However the other week Snyman charged into a ruck and came in at the side like an Exocet missile targeting Brodie Retallick who went off with a serious injury. It was a pure premeditated clear out of someone at the back of the ruck and no where near the ball. Neither the ref nor his assistants nor the TMO batted an eyelid and I was appalled to be frank. I have seen no suggestion at any citing and whilst I can’t remember who the referee was I feel that that game and today’s incident clearly show the gulf in standards between the referees interpretation between hemispheres. Todays was mindless stupidity. Snymans incident was Thuggery of the first order and would have been seen as assault if off of the pitch.

Aussie Nic berry was the ref two weeks ago. Consistently certainly an issue.

sort of


Nic Berry is awful regardless of any statistical significance

Quote:

Wilson Pickett
sort of

Nic Berry is awful regardless of any statistical significance

Totally agree. I couldn’t name names as I couldn’t remember but I agree he was poor all the way through and it’s all well and good fast tracking recently retired players through the refereeing ranks but not to tier 1 internationals before they know which changing room to go to.

Kiwi’s have a point until the many that go unpunished there will be an axe to grind. The pendulum has to swing so that these challenges are dealt with properly and less bleating. I also don’t agree we should be applauding a ref for applying the laws but we should be calling out those that don’t. WC really needs ALL laws applying consistently and not those that are flavoured the month

A red card for me, he never had any other intention than tucking that elbow and smashing him. Baffled by the half time pundits reactions to it. Do you think they’d like 19 stone smashed into the back of their neck full force via an elbow/shoulder ? We all know the laws now , and it is what it is.

Cant blame the ref. The tackle made the ref make a decision and the risk was the ref might be upto it.
No problem with the way it went.

Its one of those "tackles" that scream red. They might not always be picked up but you cant moan when they are.

The ABs are not used to being officiated.

Quote:

Dragonboy
Australia were the better side on the day but the red card was a red card. However the other week Snyman charged into a ruck and came in at the side like an Exocet missile targeting Brodie Retallick who went off with a serious injury. It was a pure premeditated clear out of someone at the back of the ruck and no where near the ball. Neither the ref nor his assistants nor the TMO batted an eyelid and I was appalled to be frank. I have seen no suggestion at any citing and whilst I can’t remember who the referee was I feel that that game and today’s incident clearly show the gulf in standards between the referees interpretation between hemispheres. Todays was mindless stupidity. Snymans incident was Thuggery of the first order and would have been seen as assault if off of the pitch.

I agree this was absolutely a penalty and a questionable yellow card. However if I remember correctly the clear out itself (whilst from an illegal position) was fine. Retallick obviously wasn't expecting it and landed badly. Difficult to punish retrospectively as the actual contact was absolutely fine.

This one however was a clear red. I genuinely can't believe there are any questions about it! No arms, straight to head/neck.