False Interference

[Bulletproof]

As good a team as Wigan are, I've noted a lot of playing the referee which is nothing short of cheating. If you are tackled and hold the tackler on top of you to try and give the impression of holding down, or hold the players tackling arm with your ball carrying arm and then drop it when he removes it, it's cheating. We surely need to get a grip on this. Hemmings is right, Tomkins is cheating this season, he initiates a ball strip simply by dropping the ball whenever a player tries to remove his arm from the tackle.

It appears its being coached into players. What can be done?

[EastLondonMike]

i disagree.. i think its up to the tackler to get out of the way. if he's arms locked on the ball thats his choice. if a player tries holding the tackler back and the ball comes loose when the tackler removes his arm its up to the referee to judge what happened. if the tackler doesn't want to risk that he just doesn't put his hand on the ball, and if the tackler doesn't try and lock the ball up then the grounded player doesn't get the chance to hold him back.. that's my view on it.

i do however agree that Tomkins, among others i'm sure, does look for these penalties. But is that any different from players jumping back on the floor when they feel a tackler's hand on their back, or on their ankle?.. to look for the penalty.

in the NRL they have the rule where the ref can decide if a player is responsible of a 'loose carry'. maybe such a rule could help in this type of situation.

[WalesRLFan]

just remember when your playing

IF YOUR NOT CHEATING, YOUR NOT TRYING

[Robin Evans]

There was a rare occurrence on Thursday when Robert Hicks rightly penalised Frank Watene for this offence.

When referees get to grips with this a little more and penalise the attacking player doing the holding, it might effect the frequency of which this happens. It should be viewed no more lenient/serious than the 'attacking' player doing the holding.