Dave T

Farce. The sooner the '2nd tier' nations are given a decent Test setup and exciting opportunities the better the game will be for it.

Can't disagree with much of that. I have also been a touch disappointed with some of Smith's tinkering at the back end, but then shouldn't coaches always be learning as well as the players? Maybe he will learn from this, or maybe he will still be happy that the right choice was made. Personally our big issue in attack for me was Monas. His passing was back to it's worst and he broke up our momentum on numerous occasions, and this kept us under pressure in defence in that first half. The bloke is not a scrum half, was dire there in his first year, and needs to get back to 9.

Not very often I disagree with you, but tbh I think you are being very harsh on Mathers here. I think the link into the line from Mathers has been a real highlight of the season, and has created a hell of a lot of tries for our wingers. It is quite strange for him to link in on the left though, so not really sure why that happened.

There was actually less than 16k for the Aus v Fiji semi final, which was dire tbh. Especially considering the good Fiji following and the fact that there were plenty of English there too.

Would agree with much of that, although not seen as much of Gleeson this year so probably not in a great position to comment on him. I am a little less concerned about the prospect of Atkins playing now as I was a couple of months back. I do think he has improved, especially in the back end of the year in some of the bigger games.

Whilst I think this post is slightly OTT, as IMHO Morley has been excellent again this year, I do agree with your point to an extent. IMO Morley hasn't actually been our best player, with Westwood sweeping the board at the club awards ceremony. Not interested in scoring cheap points through digs, I would be happy for any of these three to win, and would not argue with it at all.

I agree with this, and am a massive supporter of our International game and feel this is the biggest way we can get greater media presence, however I still struggle with the concept that people want to read about the RU Premiership, but don't want to watch it on Sky. If the international game is stirring that much interest, why aren't the viewing figures better. Is there really that ,uch difference between viewers and readers? I suppose this is where it comes back to the type of people that are watching/reading, although I suspect it is more to do with the type of people writing/editing.

I wasn't aware he was ill, very sad, RIP...

Hull KR have zero chance of winning this game.

Agree with all your points about the International game, howveer my point about the Sky viewing figures is because both sport's club games are on Sky, so they are directly comparable. Based on coverage of RU Premiership and engage SL in certain papers, you woul surely think that there is 5-6 times more interest in the RU competition.

If there is so much interest in the game, wouldn't this transfer into Sky viewing figures? I am not talking about Internationals, I have no issue with extensive coverage of that, but when Aviva Premiership gets this extensive coverage, despite the clear lack of national interest, then it is an issue.

I'm not sure what you are not grasping tbh. The penalty was for a late tackle by Donald. Whether we think it was late is not the point, the TJ and the VR did, and gave a penalty where the ball landed from Richards' kick. Just to clarify - the TJ came on saying it was a late tackle, the ref thought it was fine. Alibert sought clarification from the VR who gave a decision on exactly what he had been asked about.

No, Alibert clearly asked about the late tackle, as the touch judge claimed there was one, and Alibert didn't think it was (I agree with him) but the VR felt it was late. You are probably right that they missed the original offence - or the ref left that incident to the TJ's as is usually the case, and the TJ came on for the later offence.

Must admit I had completely forgotten about Gleeson. Would ahve no issues if he was in there.

By far the best British player I have seen, and possibly the best I have seen in the world. It used to be frightening going to the match and wondering what kind of damage he was going to do to your team that day - it was usually lots!

I did consider this, and was unsure as to what the definition of a carry was. I didn't believe these halfback style offloads he made would count, although when looking at someone like Lee Briers, it says he does around 12 carries a game so that may disprove my theory! My point still stands in terms of style of props I prefer, although that is simply an opinion thing.

I believe the VR can give advice to the ref on whatever the ref asks him to. As this was a crucial stage of the game, asking the VR was the right thing to do IMHO. As you say it was a subjective decision, the commentators didn't all agree, the refereeing team didn't all agree and we certainly don't all agree on here, but Alibert was right to refer it if he had the chance to. I actually thought Alibert kept his cool really well here, in what was possibly one of the toughest moments of the year for a ref.

Thanks, I am comfortable with all this, my only question outstanding is whether McGuire could have been sinbinned in the circumstances or whether this was in effect 'cancelled' out by the fact that Wigan were given this 'greater' advantage. Cheers in advance.

Yep, I'd heard the stories about his manner, but I met him at Leicester Square Tube Station the night before Wembley and he was very polite and friendly, and happily shook our hands and posed for photo's with us. Absolute legend and was a real highlight of the weekend meeting him.

You can hear the linesman say he thought it was late, and Alibert said he thought it was fine - as it was a crucial stage, he rightly asked the VR to have a check. The VR then made the decision that Donald had tackled Richards late. I agree with you that it was a harsh call, and the slow-mo replays don't help with these calls. Whether we agree with it or not, the call was that Donald's tackle was late, and based on that decision, the penalty was in exactly the right position (right down to Alibert making Richards move a metre back at the last second).

Your original post made me think more about this. If they watched it and decided that McGuire's challenge was a professional foul, but then agreed to in effect play on as Wigan were still on the attack and gained a further advantage then wouldn't that negate the foul from McGuire ie. he wouldn't be able to be binned? I suppose it is like if somebody pulls somebody back but the team then goes on to score, the offender does not then get binned too. I wonder whether it was a case of one or the other, ie. you can't give advantage and the penalty in the Leeds half and sinbin McGuire. If you were going to bin McGuire, I wonder whether the penalty would have to have been given in Wigan's own half. It would be very interesting to get Cummings official stance on this one.

No penalty was given for McGuire's challenge, although this may simply have been due to the fact that the VR decided to allow advantage and decided there was a 2nd offence in a more beneficial spot to Wigan.

When SL first started and we moved to summer there was an opinion that big forwards were a thing of the past, and centres and 2nd rowers were pretty much the same thing. Nowadays I think there has been a shift back to bigger forwards knocking around and bigger packs are becomin more common. At my team, Warrington, there is no way that you would have Westwood or Louis Anderson playng in the centres. They are out and out back-rowers these days, and too big for centre. That isn't to say that there aren't certain utility players who can cover both slots, we have Grix for one, and I'm sure the likes of King or Atkins could do a job in the 2nd row, but at Test level, this surely isn't where we want to go. RP mentioned Atkins, and I agree that he is now looking more and more likely to get a chance. I have previously said I thought it was a year or two too early for him, as he still has some dvelopment work on his defence, but tbh as our options thin out, and the fact that he has had a good 2nd half to the season, I wonder whether he does deserve a run. There is also the safer option of Shenton and Yeaman, who both have Test experience.

Excellent post.