Ant

Wait, you mean the ref isn't always right😐

I had the same experience in my 20s. I actually played RU for a bit in a club that ran 4 teams. Huddersfield Rufc ran a couple too. The main difference is though unless you wanted to play 1st team, you didn't need to bother training, it was turn up, play, socialise. Compare that to the ARLFC I also played for, training twice a week or don't bother showing your face on game day. Id also say that at the time Hudds had 2 RU clubs and maybe a dozen ARLFC clubs, so that made a lot of difference to how the club's ran teams too.

Both were correct calls though MacNamara's only complaint is that Catalans had got away with way worse in the cup game

In one case the defender laid across the ruck and the play the ball was clean, with the dummy half impeded in picking up the ball In the other case the attacking player dropped the ball on a defender to the side of him and didn't play the ball correctly - Bird was still responsible for controlling the ball and failed to do so. It's a massive difference. But hey, there's a cup game thread full of other people saying not to blame the ref etc etc. Catalans spent too much time reverting to their grubbing ways and Hewer didn't let them get away with it this time

LMAO at this spin

Shades of 1995 all over again I think. I also suspect the dodgy deals done when the 888 system came in are coming home to roost. Contentious then, pushed through with bribes to clubs on their uppers and abject failure on all fronts has left those that opposed it lacking in compromise now maybe.

I say it was clearly knocked on by a Catalan player.

Yes. A correct decision though.

Those highlights show 1. Bird is a annoying person and 2. That TJ did his job, something they are often accused of not doing

Not at all. The penalty won by Leeming was because the Catalan player left Hewer no option. Laid in the middle of the ruck and obstructing a clean pick up of the ball. This is given as a penalty 100% of the time. Bird knocked on because he dropped the ball down on a player clear of the ruck, who was onside and not obstructing anyone. This is given as a knock on most of the time. More importantly it was an obvious and cynical ploy by Bird to win a penalty, if we're being correct the Giants should have been awarded a penalty for it. If Bird had just played the ball properly Catalans probably would have scored anyway.

A lot can be said for the Giants bench changing things around, and the senior players taking some ownership of the game. The giants defence also started to put pressure on the Catalan kicking game which made a difference. The Catalan pack is outstanding though, and were always hard to stop, they have English a right pasting (one or two shoulder charges too) but credit to him he kept getting back up and taking the ball up. Murphy is good in the back row against another smallish pack, but fared poorly against a bigger one. Alex Mellor though is absolutely silencing any doubters he had

I think the difference was the Giants player was inside and in the in goal area, so entitled to be there. Bird tried to milk it and made a mess of it. Plus hewer is awful.

I hope Ollie Roberts practices his kicking for next time...would have been much safer if he'd made a couple of them he should have. But despite being under a lot of pressure he is a kid with a bright future ahead of him

The ref initially awarded it but the touch judge held his position. Good work by him - he did it a few time both ways. Good to see a TJ doing his job also the in goal judge said no try

I think a lot of people there tonight were folk who used to go but dropped out for various reasons...id hazard because they had families judging by the number of, well, families there which was great to see. 20 minutes in I thought an utter disaster was looming, the Giants were awful and Catalans full of enthusiasm and running, with Drinkwater running the show. From somewhere the Giants found something from somewhere though and it ended up a bloody good game, just what a crowd like tonight's would have loved, including Jerry going 80m Ultimately the Catalans lost because with lots of pressure on the Giants line Greg Bird tried to milk a penalty and made a hash of it, if he'd just got on with it I'm sure Catalans would have scored.